


Sparrow in Winter

by OneShotRevolt



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Body Dysphoria, Gen, Jack and Gabe pretending to be over each other, Mentions and themes of the following:, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Story is something of a black comedy - or rather it's black but has Jesse McCree in it, hateful brothers who care too much for each other, lots of angsty dramatic guys and cool calm Ana Amari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2019-10-08 07:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 147,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17382008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneShotRevolt/pseuds/OneShotRevolt
Summary: Genji Shimada has recently joined Blackwatch and is struggling to reconcile his human side and his new cyber augmentations. Just as he is beginning to feel like Blackwatch might be the family he never truly had, Overwatch brings on a specialist consultant for an urgent mission: Hanzo Shimada.





	1. Shock to the System

He was sitting bolt upright on the bed. He rarely felt the need to sleep these days, and used the bed more as a convenient charging point than he did for rest. There was a plug in the wall here so he could sit without a view of the mirror. Staring for extended periods at his body made him want to smash something. At least here he could sit away from staring eyes. Including his own.

 

“Lights down.” His voice reverberated with an oddly mechanical echo. The lights in his room dimmed, save those in his body. A large ring on his chest glowed dull red along with joints, crevices and powercircuits lining the robotics in his prosthetics. He stared down at the dark armour and flickering lights. He lifted his left arm, the one flesh-and-bone limb remaining him. He turned over his hand, covered in thin pink and white lines of scars. There was even a soft red glow on his good hand – light reflected from his eyes, he realised, that had needed electrical feeds directly into the optical nerve to save his sight. He clenched his fist and shut his eyes. At least when his eyes were shut, he felt like himself.

 

Except that when he closed his eyes and sat still for too long, mechanical interference melded with memory and pulled up HD flashes of the last imprints the organic part of his brain had experienced. He shuddered as the day of the incident was catapulted into his mind with startling clarity, complete with strong recollections of sound, sight, touch, and even smell. These visions of the past were becoming a regular part of his new life. Where at first they had reduced him to a shivering wreck, he now drunk them in, taking the pain they brought and boiling it into anger that he would unleash in the field.

 

The only moments he still found difficult to deflect were those minutes before it all began. Anticipation and dread would fill him as his brother spoke. That voice had become synonymous with what was to follow. And the wait was always so much worse than experiencing for the tenth or hundredth time the agony that left him torn limb from limb.

 

“Genji.”

 

The voice was calm, imperious as ever. Genji often wondered if his brother had truly been that composed when he came to kill him. Was there anything at all under there that found this difficult, that wrestled with the task? He’d paused the memory and zoomed in on those features. Rewound just to look for a flicker of hesitation in his brother’s face. He’d always come up empty handed.

 

“Genji.” The voice said again.

 

_It will pass. It will pass._ Genji told himself. It wouldn’t be long now. It wouldn’t be long. The end would come. Except the end had never really come, had it.

 

“Genji.” The voice said more sharply, “Are you in there? Answer me.”

 

Genji’s eyes flashed open in a glare of red. That wasn’t how the dialogue went. He sat for a moment, considering the possibility that he was truly going mad – perhaps having an omnic uprising of his very own inside his body.

 

“Genji, if you’re in there, open this door. We need to talk.”

 

No, this was much worse than going mad. He jumped silently to his feet. His eyes darted around the small spartan quarters Blackwatch had given him. The room had always suited him well enough, but right now it was far too small. He pulled open his locker door, catching it before it banged on the wall. He slipped inside and pulled the door to. He had a lot more bulk to fit into small spaces now. And it was all much less flexible. He crammed his metallic bulk into the locker noiselessly. He could hear his breath loud through the grating ventilators in his mask. He pushed himself into the corner, hoping the light from his armour wouldn’t show through the crack. He placed his hand over the largest LED in his chest, trying to smother its glow.

 

_He’s come to finish what he started. He heard I was still alive somehow and he’s hunted me down._ His head was a mess of racing thoughts. _Don’t let him see me like this. Don’t let him see what I’ve become._

 

The handle to his room squeaked slightly as it was pulled. The door swung open, and Genji saw the bright light of the corridor shine as a white slit from inside his locker. There were footsteps. He knew their weight, the way they placed themselves, self-assured and proud. They turned on the spot, squeaking slightly on the tiled floor, trying to pinpoint something. A sound. Genji’s breathing was so rasping through the ventilator that it was audible. He reached a hand slowly up, towards the thick tubes hooking up his ventilator. His fingers shook slightly as he tried not to knock the cramped locker walls with his plated steel elbows. He pulled the tubes out one – two – three. There was a fractional hissing as they released air. Then quiet. He was completely silent now, not even breathing.

 

The footsteps turned on the spot again. There was a pause. Then a sigh. Then they moved off. The door clicked shut. Genji tried to sigh with relief, but found he couldn’t breathe. He fumbled for the dangling tubes, scrabbling to plug them back in. He managed to grab one and felt for the nozzle on the back of his skull. His body lurched as it tried and failed to draw in a breath. The tube slipped out of his hand. He reached for it again but his movements were sluggish and the locker seemed darker than it had before. His eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped heavily onto the locker floor.

***

Angela ran out of her clinic, a digital pad in hand that was beeping erratically. A pen fell out of her hair that she’d forgotten she placed there. She whirled round a corner and collided with an antiquated serape.

 

“Woah there, Doc. You’re sure in a hurry, anythin’ I can-”

 

“Come with me.” She grabbed Jesse McCree by the elbow.

 

The young man clapped a hand to his hat as the doctor sped him through the halls. She held up her datapad as they ran, it showed a plan of the Watchpoint – a flashing red dot was blaring from a room. Jesse squinted at it as they ran.

 

“Hey, isn’t that Genji’s room? Thought you promised you’d stopped monitoring his vitals from your clinic?”

 

“Well it’s a good thing I didn’t,” Angela said swiftly. Her datapad beeped more slowly, then turned to a continuous monotone.

 

“Is that good? That doesn’t sound good. Is he ok?”

 

“Going into cardiac arrest.”

 

Jesse swore. He skidded to a stop for the door to Genji’s room and booted it open.

 

“It’s empty! He’s not here!”

 

Angela pushed in after him. Her eyes swivelled round the empty room. She hit the side of her datapad with her hand, shaking the screen.

 

“He’s in here!” She said when the pad didn’t change, “Find him!”

 

“Are you sure, Doc, I don’t see-”

 

Angela got on her knees and looked under the bed. Jesse flung open the locker.

 

“I’ll be damned.”

 

They dragged Genji’s unconscious body out onto the floor. Angela found the loose tubes and plugged them back into his head. The monotone on the datapad continued to sound.

 

“He ain’t waking up, Doc. He ain’t.”

 

“Help me carry him to the clinic.”

 

“He weighs a tonne! Let me get the boss-”

 

“There’s no time! Help me lift him!”

 

They struggled to lift the part-man part-machine out into the corridor between them. They dragged his body a few yards down the corridor before Angela dropped Genji’s legs.

 

“I’ll get the gurney”, she said, starting to run again, “You keep moving him.”

 

“So you can leave me to get the damn trolley, but I can’t go get the boss to help- Angela don’t leave me here with him – what if he dies on me!?”

 

“He’s already clinically dead!” She called back as she vanished round the corner.

 

Jesse swore again. All the anxiety he’d been holding back slipped onto his face now that he was alone. He wrapped his arms around Genji’s chest and dragged him down the corridor.

 

“It ain’t your time.” He whispered to the body. “You come too far and been through too much for this to be how you go.”

 

The long corridor was strangely silent but for Jesse’s laboured breathing and the steely screech and spark of Genji’s heels as he was dragged. It seemed strange to be with his friend and not to hear the mechanical tones of his assisted breathing. He tried not to dwell on that. He heard the rattle of a trolley up ahead. Angela whirled round the corner, gurney turning on two wheels to match her pace. She hit a button and it folded down to floor level. Between them they hauled Genji onto it. It stretched back to full height and Jesse took the handle. They ran with it back to the clinic. Jesse dared not ask his friend’s status. Once inside, he stood back, letting the doctor hook up her patient.

 

Jesse hovered, trying not to get in her way but desperate for an update.

 

“You need to restart his heart or something? Got one of those old timey-” He rubbed his hands together and pushed them down, mimicking a defibrillator, “CLEAR – things?”

 

“Not that easy when he’s mostly machine.” She said as she worked. Good news is, we can do this...” She pulled a wire linked to the top of Genji’s spine and plugged it straight into the mains power. His body jerked. She pulled it out and thrust it in again. The body jerked again.

 

_Come on._ Jesse pleaded. _Come on, Genji._

 

The datapad began to beep again. Slowly at first. Angela replaced the wire and pulled out another one and fixed it to a tank above a hospital bed.

 

“Help me lift him onto the bed.”

 

“Is he-?”

 

“He’ll live.”

 

The soft filter of Genji’s mask started up again as he began to breathe. And Jesse felt relief wash over him.

 

“Damn.” He said softly. He helped Angela lift the cyborg onto the bed. “What do you think he was doing in that cupboard? And with those wires pulled out of his head… Y’don’t think…”

 

“Mr Shimada has only survived this far in life because he has an exceptionally strong will to live.”

 

Jesse nodded quickly, and banished any thoughts to the contrary. He took off his hat and pulled up a stool, sitting heavily next to the bed.

***

Genji’s eyes flickered on slowly. The room came to in patches of white. He recognised the all-too-familiar ceiling lighting of the clinic. There were red and black tubes feeding into an array of equipment above his head. Somewhere to his right a monitor beeped with a faint regular tone.

 

“Back from the dead. Again.” There was a nervous laugh to his left. He turned his head slightly to see Jesse McCree. His face was anxious and agitated despite the light tone of his voice. His hat had crinkled where it had been held tight between his hands. His boots were tucked behind the bar of his stool and his posture was stiff.

 

Genji sat up slowly.

 

“Slow down there, pardner. Doc says you’re to sit tight.”

 

“I’m fine.” Genji grated. He sat up. As he did, his predicament came swarming back to him. “I can’t be here.” He dropped his legs over the side of the bed.

 

“Genji, look – you nearly died on us back there – Doc says you _were_ dead _._ She says you need rest and a drip. That it’s going to put good stuff back in your body. She says its nutrients straight to your blood or something – look I don’t know but please trust her okay and- _Genji.”_

 

“The windows…” Genji was murmuring. “The windows are too big. He’ll see.”

 

“You gotta stay here, are you listenin’ to me? Don’t take any more goddamn tubes out your head and let the doc do her thing!”

 

Jesse stood up. He was going to stop Genji leaving by force if it came to it. But then something strange happened. His friend slipped off the bed, onto the floor, and crawled under the bed. The tubes linked to the tanks above shuddered and protested, but held steady.

 

“Genji?” Jesse stared in bewilderment. He got down on his knees and looked under the bed. “Come on outa there.”

 

Two red eyes stared back at him from the darkness.

 

Jesse reached out a hand to grab him.

 

“ _Fuzakeru na!_ ”

 

Jesse winced. He didn’t need to be a language expert to understand the venom with which those words were spat.

 

“Ok.” He sat back on his heels, “Fine suit yourself.” He sighed and stood slowly. He ran a hand through his hair and picked his hat up from the stool. The sliding door to the clinic opened and Angela walked in, eyes glued to her datapad. She looked up and stopped.

 

“Where… _Where is my patient?_ ” She turned furious eyes on Jesse.

 

Jesse held up his hands in surrender.

 

“He’s still here! Don’t look at me like that! He’s under the bed – don’t ask. Just let him be – all the wires and stuff are still in.” He moved to block Angela, who’s face was going through various stages of controlled outrage as she made to get at the bed. “He’s kinda pissed, Doc. Might want to let him alone for a bit, let him cool off. He’s all-” He put up his hands like claws, “ _Hhhrgh._ Y’know. Like a cat.”

 

Angela stared at him like he were mad for a moment. Then she turned around and went back to her datapad.

 

“He’s not staying there. Fetch Commander Reyes, please.”

 

“Doc, really? I think we kinda got this under control now, y’know. No one’s dyin’ anymore. Everyone’s where they need to be. On the bed – under the bed – not a whole lotta difference there. Frankly, I’m just sayin’ we should all give ourselves a pat on the back for avoidin’ a major catastrophe wh-”

 

“Stop stalling, Jesse. Commander Reyes will want to hear about this anyway. The sooner the better. I can’t treat my patient whilst he’s under the bed.”

 

Jesse sighed. The spurs on his boots clinked together as he sloped out the clinic.

***

Angela turned round as the door slid open. Commander Reyes stalked in, eyeing up the empty beds with a calculated gaze.

 

“Where is he?”

 

Angela put her works aside and joined him quickly, glancing at the enormous shotguns strapped to the commander’s side.

 

“Commander, you know I prefer you don’t bring weapons into the clinic. I asked before and-”

 

“ _Where is he?_ ” Reyes cut through her.

 

Angela hesitated, then gestured to the empty bed.

 

“Under the bed.” She said. She stepped back, not wanting to get in his way. There was always something a little frightening about Reyes when he wanted something. It was easier to stay out of his line of sight and away from his temper. She flitted back to her laptop and perched on her stool, peering around from the edge of the screen when she thought it was safe to do so.

 

Reyes collected up the hem of his leather trenchcoat as he crouched, then let it fan out behind him. It was dark under the bed. Two red eyes stared out at him. He felt his patience slipping.

 

“Out.” He ordered.

 

“I can’t do that, Commander.” The reply was quiet, barely more than a mechanical murmur.

 

“I assure you, you can. Don’t make me lift up this bed and make you.”

 

“Don’t!” Came the hurried response. “I have to stay here. I have to stay out of sight.”

 

“You want to tell me what’s going on here, kid? McCree told me you went and pulled out your breathing…” He waved a hand vaguely for lack of an expression, “… stuff.”

 

“I wasn’t quiet enough. I had to be quieter.”

 

“Start talking sense.” Reyes snapped, but he was concerned. The ninja was a quiet one, but not easily shaken. This behaviour was unlike him.

 

“I can’t come out, Commander.” Genji said quietly. “He’s here. He’s looking for me. He’s come to finish what he started.”

 

“Who’s here?”

 

“The one who did all this. The one responsible. My brother.”

 

Reyes sat for a moment, mentally sorting through the mess before him. When he’d signed up to become a soldier he’d never dreamed that years down the line he’d be the first point of contact for all the damaged youngsters the UN wanted trained into elite operatives. He put his hand to his forehead and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them again, and summoned all his patience.

 

“You think your brother’s here? In Gibraltar?”

 

“I know he is.”

 

“I think I’d know if that were the case, kid.”

 

“Would you?”

 

Reyes had to fight to keep his temper in check. It was no secret that tensions had been strained recently between him and the Strike Commander. The ninja was right. It was possible he might not have been informed. That would be a low blow even for Jack though.

 

“I don’t want to come out.” Genji said quietly. “I don’t want him to find me.”

 

“Commander?” A voice piped up.

 

Reyes looked up in irritation. Angela had wound her way round the beds until she was nearby again. She still kept a safe distance between them.

 

“Commander,” She said again, “I really would be able to treat him much better if he would just…” She gestured to the bed. “He needs rest. His body is still accepting its enhancements. I’m drip feeding him the nutrients he needs, but the lack of oxygen may have damaged some cells. His body needs to rest and be given the chance to start repairing itself.”

 

“I won’t rest!” Came the stubborn mechanical voice from under the bed, “I have to keep watch.”

 

Reyes waved Angela away with a jerk of his hand. Angela’s heart sunk again and she retreated back to her desk. Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to ask for the commander after all.

 

“Doc says you need to rest to get better.” Reyes said more softly once Angela was out of earshot.

 

Genji shook his head.

 

“He can shoot an arrow through an inch of glass and still hit his target.” Genji whispered. “He’ll look for me here. He won’t give up until he’s got what he wants. You don’t know him. I do.”

 

“Fine. You sleep, and I’ll keep watch.”

 

Genji hesitated,

 

“You’ll wait until I’m asleep then leave to go and talk to the Strike Commander. You don’t believe me that my brother’s really here. You think I’m crazy. That I’m malfunctioning like the omnics you put down.”

 

The kid was definitely a sharp one. And those did all sound like pretty plausible accusations.

 

“I won’t leave you.” Reyes said in the gentlest voice he could. He’d spent a lifetime barking orders – gentle wasn’t something that came naturally to him. But for the young recruits who placed their life in his hands, he could always make an exception. “If I need to be elsewhere, I’ll have McCree come sit in my place.”

 

There was quiet as that was contemplated.

 

“Promise?”

 

Sometimes Reyes forgot just how young his soldiers were. They were all fearless fighters, but underneath the hard layers of survival they’d wrapped themselves in, there were still people little older than children in there somewhere who looked to him, trusted him.

 

“I promise.” He said.

 

There was a pause, then red eyes dimmed and went dark. Reyes sat himself more heavily on the floor and leaned back against the wall. He sighed and listened as the ventilated breathing slowly got deeper and more steady.

 

Angela peered over her laptop at the commander. He looked different sitting on the floor. Lots of his intimidating presence was gone, and instead he looked a little vulnerable.

 

“Something the matter, Doc?”

 

He was still staring forward. Angela ducked back behind her screen.

 

“No, sir. All good here.”


	2. Some Things Can't Be Fixed

Reyes’ pace was even as he stalked down the corridor towards the Strike Commander’s office. His boots lit the watchpoint with echoes. He hit the door controls and stepped in as soon as they rolled back for him. A wide concave glass window looked straight down to an azure sea crashing cream foam on the brown boulders below. The room was otherwise sparse: a desk, a cabinet, a single bookshelf, and a man with shoulders hung heavy beyond his years. He looked out at the sea and didn’t turn at the interruption.

 

“I can always tell it’s you. Can hear those damn boots from half a mile off.”

 

“And do you know why I’m here, _Strike Commander?_ ”

 

The Strike Commander turned around. His keen honest eyes still moved something inside Reyes like they had the first day they met. That felt a lifetime ago now.

 

“I imagine you’re angry. With me. About something. I’m honestly losing track at this point.”

 

Nostalgia vanished from Reyes’ thoughts as his eyes darkened.

 

“This is a ridiculous thing for me to have to ask, but I’m here wondering if I missed some memo, and if Hanzo Shimada is wandering around this base.”

 

A strange expression appeared on the Strike Commander’s face.

 

“He _is?!_ ” Reyes stepped forward, presence suddenly filling the room.

 

“I knew you weren’t answering your messages, but I assumed you were still _reading_ them!”

 

“ _Messages?_ You left this to a _message_ and went ahead with it when I didn’t respond?!”

 

“I thought you wanted space – that you thought I was wasting your time!”

 

“Christ, Jack, this isn’t some petty argument, we’re meant to be running an operation here!” Reyes pushed into the Strike Commander’s space, forcing him to back up.

 

“Stop doing that!”

 

“Doing what? Calling you out on your bullshit?!”

 

“Trying to put me down, acting like my SO again-”

 

“Well someone round here has to act with some competence!”

 

Jack turned away,

 

“Look, I’m sorry you didn’t get the message,” He said with more control. “I did ask for your consultation and invited you to a meeting last week about it-”

 

“Jack, I live on the same base. I am a ten minutes walk at tops from you. If you really wanted to fucking consult with me you could have _walked_ -”

 

“What’s done is done. Mr Shimada has expertise that Overwatch needs. It’s not like he’s joined us, he’s just here for a short while to share his knowledge while we look into these operations in East Asia. This has already been cleared at the highest level. Mr Shimada no longer works for the Yakuza, and is-”

 

“A murderer. Who nearly murdered my omnic ninja for a second time today.”

 

“He… what?” Jack’s face faltered.

 

“I don’t know all the details because my kid’s hiding under a bed, but Ziegler confirmed his heart was out for a good minute or two.”

 

The broad shoulders in their proud sky blue uniform curled in on themselves. Jack looked smaller,

 

“Gabe, I-I had no idea,”

 

“Don’t _Gabe_ me. You knew damn well the things this mobster’s done. You deliberately avoided consulting me because you knew I’d take Genji’s side-”

 

“I didn’t deliberately-” Jack shook his had, “Look, Gabe. He’s not the same man he was. You think I’d let him walk around here if he was? He’s changed. He only wants to speak with Genji. Genji probably just overreacted.”

 

“ _Overreacted_? _”_

 

Jack took step back as spit flew in his face.

 

“ _Overreacted?”_ Reyes’ repeated, “There are some things you can’t just forgive and forget, Jack! If you’re stabbed in the back by those closest to you, you can’t just put that in the past! That’s trust destroyed.”

 

“Stabbed in the back?” The Strike Commander finally squared up before Reyes, “Genji wasn’t stabbed in the back though, was he. Or is it even him we’re still talking about.” Reyes’ dark eyes fixed Jack’s, daring him to continue. Jack did. “You’re obsessed. You can’t get passed this one thing that happened. I didn’t _stab you in the back_. If I’d known agreeing to take this position would have hurt you this much I never would have-”

 

“Believe it or not, Morrison, but not everything is about you.” Reyes said coldly. He backed off and gave Jack some space. “Hanzo Shimada isn’t staying. Get him off this base or I’ll take Blackwatch and relocate elsewhere.”

 

Jack was at a loss for words momentarily,

 

“You… you can’t.” Technically he could. There was no specific need for Blackwatch and Overwatch to operate out of the same place. There were numerous watchpoints around the world that would suit Blackwatch just fine. They were only currently based in Gibraltar because it was closest to their last call for aid, and that had been some time ago. “…Angela needs to monitor Genji’s progress…”

 

“Then the doc comes too.”

 

“Overwatch needs Angela. Overwatch needs her here.” Jack was still floundering, not quite believing he was having this conversation.

 

“Well who does _Overwatch_ need more, Hanzo Shimada or Angela Ziegler?”

 

_Overwatch needs Gabriel Reyes._ But Jack didn’t say that. He wasn’t sure why. Pride maybe.

 

“Gabe, come on. Stop being so dramatic. We can sort this-”

 

“Dramatic?” Reyes was up in Jack’s space again, “I’ve got a kid in hospital because you-”

 

“They’re not children any more, Reyes. Stop treating them like they are.”

 

Reyes stopped and blinked. Disbelief registered on his face. He stared at Jack. He shook his head and gave a half huff of a sarcastic laugh. Jack shifted uncomfortably at the change.

 

“Right. So that’s the real problem here. Gabriel Reyes is getting too sentimental. He cares too much.”

 

“I didn’t say that. You’re putting words in my mouth.”

 

“I’d never thought I’d see this day to be honest, Jackie. I mean I knew you sucked up to them and were their mouthpiece, but I never thought I’d see the day when you really believed it.” He shook his head, turned, and walked to the door.

 

“Gabe, wait, don’t go. Wait. You were right. I should have made sure to get your sign off on this. I should have done this all better. I’m sorry. Help me fix this. Don’t walk away – this is me asking for your help. You want-” Jack came around the other side of his desk, “You want Hanzo Shimada gone? – fine I’ll send him away. But can we at least try and do this the civil way first? Introduce them to one another, hear Hanzo out?”

 

Reyes had stopped walking but his back was still turned,

 

“If you think I’m letting that fucker anywhere near my ninja-”

 

“Or _you_ could at least hear Hanzo out first? Vet the situation. And we take it from there?”

 

Jack was desperate. He edged closer to his old friend.

 

“Help me make this better?” He tried to peer into Reyes’ eyes, “You’re advice always means the world to me. I know I’ve made mistakes. But every step forward I’ve ever taken has been because of you. I need you… beside me,” He added quickly, “And even if it can’t be like the way it was…” There was an uncomfortable pause, “Anything is better than your silence.”

 

Reyes was quiet for a long moment. Jack watched his chest rise and fall, watched the lines on his face crease and shift as he battled inner frustrations. He knew those features better than he knew his own.

 

“Fine. But if I don’t like him, I’m personally chucking him off that cliff outside your fancy window.”

 

“Okay. I can’t actually let you do that, but a metaphorical cliff, yes, I can work with that.”

 

Reyes gave a huff.

 

“And Gabe, can you maybe please unblock me so I can actually message you about important stuff like this in future?”

 

“Whatever.”

***

Gabriel rubbed his face as he walked back to the clinic. It drained him sitting and listening to his recruits, and exhausted him fighting with Jack. He needed air.

 

Jesse McCree was sitting on a stool by the empty hospital bed scrolling through his mobile phone. He hastily put it away as his commander entered.

 

“Genji sleeping?”

 

“Think so,” Jesse replied, “He’s quiet. But then he usually is.”

 

Reyes listened. The cyborg’s breathing was steady but lacked the slow rhythmical quality it had before.

 

“Go get ready. We’re heading out.”

 

Jesse jumped to his feet,

 

“Another mission? So soon?”

 

“Not a mission.” Reyes walked over to the empty bed. “Some down time. We’re going to Spain.”

 

“Yessir!” Jesse grinned. He grabbed his hat and serape.

 

“Feel free not to wear those.” Reyes said dully.

 

“No, sir!” Jesse danced out the door, whistling and tilting his hat as he did.

 

“That’s a nice idea,” Angela said with uncertainty, “But you know… uh… Genji won’t be-”

 

“Up, kid.” Reyes kicked the bed leg. “We’re getting out of here for a bit. I know you’re awake. Want to join the team for a drink or stay here to be butchered by your brother?”

 

There was a scrabbling of metal and Genji emerged.

 

_He could have used that tactic earlier,_ Angela scowled.

 

Genji’s eyes readjusted to the light and he glanced furtively about the clinic,

 

“The Strike Commander confirmed he’s here then?” He asked quietly.

 

“Yep. Bastard was holding out on me. But what’s new.”

 

“Commander,” Angela took a deep breath and planted herself infront of Reyes so that he couldn’t ignore her. “It’s not safe for Genji to leave this clinic. I need to monitor his vitals.”

 

“Come with us then,” The commander said matter-of-factly.

 

“I can’t just… come with you! Did you even clear this with Strike Commander Morrison? You’re leaving the country-”

 

“Driving over the border,” Reyes corrected.

 

“It’s still leaving the country!”

 

“Stay here if you want,” Reyes shrugged. “I’ll take O’Deorain she can keep an eye on him.”

 

Angela’s eyes hardened, but she was out of objections. She pursed her lips. She watched as Genji followed in the commander’s shadow. He glanced at her once, that was all the thanks she would get for saving his life again, she knew. She closed her eyes as the door shut behind them.

***

The open top hovercar sped up the main road. Jesse took off his hat and gave whoop as they passed under the shadow of a palm tree.

 

“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

 

Moira O’Deorain, head of Blackwatch’s research division, turned around in the front seat and fixed Jesse with a dead look.

 

“Aw lighten up.” Jesse leaned forward, resting his chin near Reyes’s headrest, “Hey Boss, how come you’re allowed to break the rules but we ain’t? Hey, is it breaking the rules if we follow your orders and your orders are breaking the rules, or would that count as following the rules? Hmm.”

 

“Jesse, how about you sit back and shut up or I’ll break your nose with my fist.”

 

“Capeesh, Boss.” Jesse leaned back. He nudged Genji, then regretted it when his funny bone hit metal. _Ow_ , he mouthed and rubbed his elbow. Genji stared at him with his same blank red eyes. “Y’all are all pretty down considerin’ we’re about to hit the town ‘n’ party on down.”

 

“Does he ever shut up.” Moira murmured and turned up the radio to drown Jesse out.

 

The hovercar roared up the highway. The hot sun tilted purple shadows onto the road and set the sea glittering. White cliffs of the Rock of Gibraltar were crowned with rough green scrub. They reared immense and imposing on their right but slowly began to fall away as the commander put his foot to the accelerator. The sky above was a mull of shifting patterns. The clouds were always changing here, blown in at a moments notice by winds that belonged to far off seas. Snapping white trails of cirrus would be chased up by brooding mauve stormfronts only to pass overhead before any heavy weather hit. To Genji it was too far away to matter. Most things now felt too far away to matter. He had indulged in life once before, but now had little interest in what went on around him if it wasn’t pertinent to the mission at hand.

 

“Ain’t that’s somethin’?” Jesse nudged him again, but this time more carefully so as not to hurt himself. He pointed to a row of white geese flying against the mulberry bruise of a black rain cloud. The sun had sent their wings gold and tipped their feathers like they were light itself.

 

“Birds in flight.” Genji said emptily, “Not so strange.”

 

“Yeesh.” Jesse slumped back in his seat and muttered to himself, “Think I’m the only one here who’s any fun.”

 

The hovercar sped down a backroad and skidded to a halt before a bar. A wooden board above the door was sitting jauntily at one angle and a blackboard of specials had everything bar ‘fresh fish’ scrubbed out. One window had had cracks shot through it that was covered up with tape.

 

“Classy.” Moira said as she stepped out the vehicle.

 

“Will be once _we’re_ in there.” McCree tipped his hat at Moira as he strode passed her and pushed open the door like he was striding into a saloon. His booming confidence faded when he saw the interior. There was a long grimy bar, a holovid playing sports on the wall, and a tinny speaker playing old mid 2010’s hits. A couple of old men were sitting in the corner, now starring at him, but otherwise the bar was empty. Jesse’s face fell, Reyes pushed passed him and went up to the bar. Genji hovered in the doorway. He hated walking into public places, hated the way people stared, hated the way he had to pretend to be one of them.

 

“ _Three beers._ ” Reyes ordered in Spanish, “ _And what have you got to eat. I saw the board outside – fish. I know, but what else – chips, peanuts?_ ”

 

“ _You’re Spanish is terrible._ ” The barman continued drying a glass in his hand.

 

“ _Because I’m speaking American, pal._ ” Reyes continued in Spanish, “ _You ain’t got a monopoly on language._ ”

 

“ _Don’t serve his kind._ ” The barman nodded toward the door where Genji had just entered. His eyes were flicking left and right, discomfort apparent even in these small furtive gestures.

 

“ _Do you serve military personnel who carry around these?_ ” Reyes unstrapped a shotgun from his leg and laid it heavily on the counter.

 

The bar went quiet, save for the sound of Moira muttering, “Oh, lord,” as she covered her face with a palm. There was a long moment where the barman looked at the gun. He passed a tongue over his lips, then reached for three glasses.

 

“No problem, _señor._ ” He gave the commander a strained smile.

 

“Good.” Reyes holstered the weapon and sat down at a table.

 

“I don’t want to cause a problem, Commander.” Genji lingered near the doorway, “I can wait outside if my company is disagreeable to the locals.”

 

“Nonsense. Wasn’t anything like that.”

 

“It… wasn’t?” Genji asked. He sounded slightly hopeful.

 

Reyes shook his head,

 

“I asked if he had any fresh fish larger than this gun. But the catch wasn’t good today. Sit down.”

 

Genji pulled up a chair and slowly sat. He glanced at the old men in the corner.

 

“They don’t look very pleased to see me, Commander…”

 

“Eyes here at this table.”

 

Genji’s gaze slowly returned to the table. Jesse was still poking his nose around the room, studying the old décor and framed newspaper cutouts next to old photographs and seacharts.

 

“Did Angela give you your regular food intake whilst you were in the clinic?” Moira’s fingers steepled and her fingernails clacked together as she spoke.

 

“I think so.” Genji said distractedly.

 

“Well if I’d been in charge of your reconstruction, fixing your food intake would’ve been pretty high on my list. So dehumanising having to be fed out of a tube.”

 

Reyes flashed Moira a look, but she just shrugged.

 

“I do not mind.” Genji said flatly, “It’s not like there’s much human left of me anyway.”

 

Their table went quiet. It was saved by the bartender who brought over three glasses and three bottles of larger that clinked as he set them down.

 

“Hey Genji! Hey get a look at this!” Jesse waved him over.

 

Genji frowned. He glanced up at Reyes, who gave him a shrug and gestured for him to do as he pleased.

 

Genji stood, trying to avoid the eyes he knew snapped to him when he came into full view. He joined Jesse quickly. He had found a side room where the lights were brighter and the music was louder and an old arcade machine was set up.

 

“Look at thiiis. This looks old!”

 

“2051.” Genji said before he could stop himself. “Mortal Kombat XVI came out in arcades in 2051.”

 

“A gamer huh? Learning more about you every day. Wonder if it still works.” McCree gave it a tap and flicked its screen with a finger.

 

“I used to play it as a boy. With my brother.”

 

Jesse froze. He chewed his lip. He straightened quickly.

 

“Hah. Probably too old to work anyway, right? Bet the drinks have arrived – let’s go sit with the boss.”

 

Genji stepped towards the arcade machine. His movements were dreamlike. He stretched a hand out over the machine and touched an invisible spot in the air before it. Holographic images jumped to life around him.

 

“Oh… haha.” McCree laughed nervously, “Guess it does work after all.”

 

Genji turned as if in a music box, looking in turn at each of the moving characters as ‘CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER’ scrolled in a circle around his head.

 

“He stopped playing with me not long after. My brother. Said he didn’t have time for such frivolity.”

 

“Sounds like a real charmer,” McCree said carefully.

 

“He was fourteen. Still a child.”

 

McCree didn’t know what to say. The quiet dragged on between them.

 

“So… ahem. You got – ah… favourite character?”

 

“Mm.” Genji replied. He sorted through the spinning characters, “They made a lot of these.” He pulled his finger through the air, until he found what he was looking for. “I always liked this guy.” He tapped the figure and it spun large. A ninja clad in blue performed two punches that shot ice out of his palms. McCree found himself dodging the 3D graphic. He saw Genji’s eyes crinkle with amusement. “He can turn a man to ice with a single punch. His backstory was that he took up his brother’s mantle and then did it ten times better. Whenever I chose to play him it pissed off Hanzo.” There was definitely amusement in Genji’s eyes now. It was the first time McCree had heard Genji use his brother’s name. He shook his head in wonder, unsure if he’d ever piece together the enigma that was Genji Shimada.

 

When they sat back down with Reyes and Moira, Genji seemed brighter. McCree pulled his glass to him and noticed with embarrassment that the commander was looking at him. Reyes gave him a slight nod of approval that made Jesse’s nose go red, so he buried his face in beer and drunk until he got hiccups.

 

An electronic ringing suddenly broke the lull of the bar.

 

“What is that? Is that a phone?” Moira asked.

 

Reyes patted down his jacket and pulled out his personal datapad. The name Jack Morrison was was popping out of it in white letters.

 

“You unmuted the Strike Commander,” Moira observed, “How mature of you.”

 

“Boss, you seriously gotta put a new ringtone on that, give it to me, I’ll change it.” McCree leaned forward.

 

Reyes placed the datapad down on the table and McCree swiped it. He began flicking through different tunes as the pad kept ringing.

 

“Too modern,” McCree flicked through the latest post-omnic crisis synth-pop, “For the Strike Commander its gotta be more ye olde fashioned. Like that jingle they used to use for the ads- what was it... the ad they used to play on TV to tell people about how to use the raid shelter’s safely. Had one of those patriotic war tunes-”

 

“Sounds unbelievably American.” Moira turned to Reyes, “You going to answer that?”

 

Reyes glared at her, then snatched the pad back from McCree. He tapped it then lifted his hand, drawing a 3D hologram of Jack out of the datapad into the air just above the table.

 

“You’re IP says you’re in _Spain_. Couldn’t you just be at a bar down the road?” Jack’s incredulous face fluttered slightly as the hologram settled.

 

“Say hi to the Strike Commander, kids.” Reyes swivelled the pad round in a circle to show McCree’s sheepish face and Genji’s empty expression. He turned the hologram to face him again, “What can I say, I wanted to be as far away from your jurisdiction as a 20 minute drive would get me.”

 

“Gabriel...” Jack sounded tired.

 

“Oooh, he called you _Gabriel_!”

 

“Shut it, McCree.”

 

“And is that Moira I saw with you?” Jack asked. “Can you put me on a private channel please, Gabriel.”

 

“Oooh, _private_!” McCree wolf-whistled.

 

“Do I have to shut you up myself?” Reyes’ eyes flashed dangerously.

 

“Nope, Boss. I’m quiet.” Jesse nudged Genji, “He talk to you this way? So violent. Setting us all a bad example.”

 

Reyes pulled the hologram towards him, altering the channel so that Jack was only audible to him.

 

“You’re on private.” He got up and flipped a middle finger at Jesse who was making kissing shapes with his mouth. He pushed open the bar door and drank in the cool evening air.

 

“I’m not opposed to you taking your team out for a break, Gabe. I think it’s a good idea.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I’d just prefer to know if you’re off base in case I need you for anything.”

 

“And have you _needed_ me between now and a few hours ago when we last spoke, Morrison?”

 

“I knocked on your door to apologise to you.”

 

There was quiet. Reyes sat down on a bench and wished he’d brought his beer out with him.

 

“You apologised earlier.” Reyes shrugged off the comment.

 

“Nomatter what I do, you seem to be angry all the time.”

 

“Only at you.” Reyes said lightly, “Havin’ a great time here with my team.”

 

He saw the hologram of Jack’s face visibly wilt, hurt by that. It hurt when he hurt Jack, but a small part of him also felt vindication.

 

“Okay.” Jack said quietly, “I didn’t mean to interrupt your evening.” He looked away sharply and reached for the control on his datapad. Reyes felt a twinge of guilt.

 

“Jackie,” He interjected, but the hologram had already gone. “Fuck.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, “Idiot.” He said softly to himself.

 

Jesse sipped his beer once the commander had left. Genji was staring at the old men in the corner, who were staring back at him. The cyborg looked dour again, and Jesse was very conscious of the fact he couldn’t join them in having a drink.

 

“Hey Genji, you want a game?”

 

The cyborg looked up.

 

“That arcade in the back. I mean you’re gonna whoop my ass but I reckon I can still give you a good run for your money. I was good at games at the fair near my old village. Could line up a lasershot on a tin can from twenty feet with a pea shooter.”

 

“It’s not that kind of game, McCree.”

 

“Well whatever, let’s give it a go. If that’s alright with you, Ma’am.” Jesse turned to Moira. She waved him away.

 

“Just don’t break anything. And stop winding up the commander,” She said as they got up.

 

Jesse tipped his hat.

 

Moira breathed deeply once alone. It was true joining Blackwatch had given her more resources than ever before and a blank cheque for whatever research she wished, but the interpersonal drama was far more than she ever signed up for. She considered herself a fairly private person, not bad company, but hardly a socialite. She was at home in a laboratory where her interactions were primarily with test subjects. Joining Blackwatch had certainly switched up those priorities. Commander Reyes often wanted her on the front line of a mission, under the ruse being a medic, but more often than not to back him up when unruly recruits were talking back at him. It wasn’t like Reyes needed help intimidating people, but Moira distinctly felt like she might be present because Reyes wanted another adult in the room. She shook her head and opened a packet of peanuts the bartender had brought over (‘complementary’ because Reyes had terrorised the man).

 

The commander stamped back in, letting in the cool indigo night has he did. He slumped down at the table.

 

“Do I want to know?” Moira said without looking up.

 

“He was pretty reasonable.” Reyes pulled his glass over, “It’s me that’s the problem.” He took a long draught.

 

“First step in fixing a relationship.”

 

Reyes glowered at her.

 

She shrugged,

 

“Calling it as it is, Commander.”

 

Reyes glowered into his drink then changed the subject,

 

“How’s the research?”

 

Moira raised an eyebrow,

 

“It’s not something that progresses linearly, so if you’re asking when the results you want will appear...”

 

“Just asking how it’s going.”

 

“It’s going.” She replied, “There are good days and bad days. New things I’ve learned, new parameters, new data. All I could ask for. The Blackwatch facility is generous. Although I’m wondering how long you intend to coexist alongside Overwatch.”

 

“You what?” Reyes looked up sharply.

 

“In the same facility. There are plenty of other watchpoints, and it’s clear you and the Strike Commander can’t stand each other. I’d feel more comfortable conducting my work far away from the prying consciences of Angler Ziegler and Strike Commander Morrison.”

 

“It’s not that we can’t stand each other – just that we have different opinions of how things should be run.”

 

“Like for instance... who should be doing the running?”

 

Reyes gave her another sharp glance.

 

“Have a care what you imply, Moira,” He growled.

 

“ _Please_.” She sat back in her her chair and took another swig of beer, “If you wanted someone to tiptoe around your ego, Gabriel, you hired the wrong person.” She raised a hand as his customary temper flared on his face, “Don’t bother getting angry, I won’t apologise. I don’t care how long this farce goes on where you and Morrison pretend you’re still best of friends. As long as it doesn’t interfere with my research, it’s of no consequence to me.” She leaned forward, set her drink down and steepled her fingers again, “Sounds like its more of a problem at present for Genji. I assume you went to Morrison and threatened to murder this new Shimada brother in some unprofessional manner?”

 

“What? No!” Reyes said a little too quickly, “Alright, maybe. But don’t bring all that up. I’m here to get away from it. Think I’ve got it handled anyway. I go talk to this treacherous bastard-”

 

“Do you mean the Shimada brother or...?”

 

“ _Yes, Moira_. You know that’s exactly what I meant. As I was _saying_ , I go talk to this guy. Figure out his intentions, and if I don’t like the smell of him. Jack’s going to fire him.”

 

“Really.” Moira deadpanned.

 

“Yes.” Reyes said firmly.

 

“Sounds an awful lot like Morrison just gave you what you wanted to hear. I hardly doubt he’s going to-”

 

“I have to believe his word is still worth something,” Reyes finally snapped at her, “Otherwise what the fuck am I still doing here.”

 

At that moment Genji and Jesse came back round the corner of the room chatting to one another. Reyes wiped the frustration from his face and sat up a little straighter.

 

“Not another word about this.” He said out the corner of his mouth to Moira. She merely shrugged again in response.

 

The recruits sat back down at the table,

 

“Boss,” Jesse started, “Genji absolutely wiped the floor with me. He’s a massive hacker.”

 

“You can’t just call people a hacker because they beat you!” Genji protested. He was seated next to Reyes and was finally making eye contact as he spoke, “When Jesse plays, he leans out the way with his body instead of the controls! He even ducked when my guy punched his guy – ducked in real life!”

 

“Only wish his instincts were as keen in the field.” Reyes mused.

 

“Oh come on!” Jesse exclaimed, “What is it – bully a cowboy day?”

 

“You’re not a- eurgh,” Moira put a hand to her head.

 

Genji laughed and the sound grated mechanically through his mask. He heard the sound and quickly tried to stifle it. Reyes gave him an unreadable look. Genji quieted and dropped his gaze.

 

Reyes waited until Moira was engaged in explaining all the ways in which Jesse was a historically inaccurate attempt at a cowboy before leaning closer to Genji.

 

“Don’t you ever be ashamed of what you are. You are a perfect soldier and one of the greatest assets to Blackwatch. Have a little pride in yourself. Like your commander does.” He returned to his beer.

 

Genji stayed silent and unresponsive, but Reyes could see a minute expressions changing behind the metal mask.

 

When Reyes eventually declared the revelry over, he watched the way Genji lingered, hovering close by him.

 

“Commander?” Genji approached him as they left the bar. Moira and Jesse we a little way ahead. Reyes turned his attention to him. Genji glanced up the street, wary of who might see him. He paused for a moment and Reyes remained quiet but attentive. Genji twisted his head, making the wires and tubes at his neck rattle against his armour. Whatever he wanted to say was clearly difficult for him to get out. “I don’t want to go back.” Genji said at last. His words were clipped and harsh through the respirator, “I don’t feel safe.” He immediately stared hard at the street, determined not to make eye contact.

 

Reyes took a deep breath,

 

“I’ve got this under control.” He frowned as Genji continued glaring at the floor. “Look at me.”

 

The cyborg reluctantly turned his red eyes to Reyes.

 

“Do you trust me?”

 

Genji nodded slowly.

 

“Then leave this to me.” Reyes began walking to the car. Genji followed in his shadow.

 

“Commander,” Reyes could still hear the anxiety tipping Genji’s voice, “Maybe I could stay somewhere secure until… Until this is resolved?”

 

“If anyone’s going to be staying somewhere secure, it’ll be your brother. In a Blackwatch cell.”

 

“In… in a cell?” Genji adjusted the stride in his robotic legs to match the commander's pace. “I can’t imagine Hanzo in a cell.”

 

“Like the sound of that?”

 

Genji nodded. He kept nodding until they got to the hovercar. The red convertible stuck out in the plain drab street. Genji leapt into the back without opening the door and seated himself next to McCree.

 

“We’re coming back here.” McCree poked Genji in his plate metal shoulder, “And I _am_ going to beat you. So don’t you go spreading any tall tales about how Jesse McCree got his ass handed to him at some arcade game.”

 

“The idea of Genji spreading gossip about anyone is the most fantastical claim you’ve made all evening, Jesse.” Moira said mildly, “And that’s saying something given your attempts to classify yourself as a cowboy.”

 

“Hey now!” McCree put in.

 

Genji gave a light quiet laugh,

 

“Perhaps I shall make an effort to spread the word just this once.”

 

Jesse looked hurt,

 

“You wouldn’t dare!”

 

Genji collected his knees into his chest, not noticing the metallic clink as steel grated on steel,

 

“Wait until Captain Amari hears,” Genji’s eyes crinkled with a smile.

 

Jesse gave a groan, then had to clap his hand quickly to his head to stop his hat flying off as Reyes started up the engine and the car sped off.

 

“I told you not to wear that thing in the car, Jesse.” Moira said without sympathy.

 

“When I get home, I’m gonna file an official complaint on account o’ havin’ such rude folks I gotta keep company with.”

 

“Be my guest,” Reyes put in, “Jack’ll assign you a special team with Wilhelm and Lindholm.”

 

“Aw naww. They have such bad humour.” Jesse cringed into his seat, “They joke all the time but their jokes aren’t funny. They just make me real embarrassed.”

 

“Sounds like a challenge.” Reyes flicked his headlights on and turned onto the main road back to Gibraltar. The enormous dark hulk of the rock blocked out a patch of starlight with pure black.

 

“Boss, don’t you start too.”

 

Genji got quieter as the Rock of Gibraltar grew closer. Jesse’s complaints turned to muted grumblings. The moon rose high and lit their drive home as a highways of soft wan light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise no more Mortal Kombat references. I just had the opportunity and couldn't pass it up. After 300K+ words of Sub-Zero fics I feel entitled to a one line cameo pointing out that Kuai Liang and Genji have some similarities :p
> 
> Thanks to my sister for proofreading (/successfully demanding to read chapters early).
> 
> Languages are a bit of a mess in this story. In general italics within quotation marks denote a foreign language being spoken. There are also occaisional moments where I put untranslated words from a foreign language into an English sentence, to denote that they're being used in conjunction with English. These'll be in italics too. There's no neat way of doing it, but hopefully it'll always be clear what's going on. Exceptions are entire extended conversation happening in a foreign language (eg. Hanzo and Genji later on). Thanks for the support thus far, this is my first Overwatch story so I'm pretty stoked to write more.


	3. Making Concessions

There was a knock on Reyes door. He pulled his pillow over his head and ignored it. The knock sounded again. He groaned. He sat up slowly, yawning as he cracked open his eyes and looked for some clothes. He pulled on a pair of trousers and opened the door. The Strike Commander stood before him.

 

“You’re not… dressed.” Jack pulled his eyes away from the bare chest.

 

“Well observed, Strike Commander.”

 

Jack looked uncomfortable.

 

“Did you… did you arrest Hanzo Shimada?”

 

“You said I could interrogate him.” Reyes left the door open and went to hunt for a shirt.

 

“Angela found him locked in the detention room. And the door is print-locked to your finger.”

 

“I invited him in for a talk. Haven’t got round to talking to him yet. Thought I’d do it this morning.”

 

“So you just left him in there? All night?”

 

Reyes shrugged,

 

“Can’t have him wandering around. It was bothering my ninja.”

 

“Gabe, there’s no food, no water, no bathroom! I invited him here as a guest! And this guy is not – he’s not someone who takes kindly to disrespect – he was the head of very traditional-”

 

“Is he dead?”

 

“No, he’s not dead!”

 

“No harm done then.” Reyes buttoned up a shirt and straightened the collar. He pulled on a padded black jacket over the top, then checked his appearance in the mirror. “Think I need to shave? Don’t want to make a bad impression if this guy’s as traditional and easily slighted as you say.”

 

“Gabe!” There was exhaustion and desperation in that single word. Reyes looked at Jack. The young man he’d trained with, taught, fought alongside, and all those more intimate moments they’d shared – he wondered how they could seem so close and yet so far away. Every time he wanted to reach out and fix the damage done, Reyes found he made more splits in the ice beneath them.

 

Jack had words floating on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to explain that if Hanzo Shimada left now and took his treatment at Gibraltar to the press, it would be bad. Overwatch was being rocked on all sides by accusations and the media were hounding him everyday, the last thing the press needed were allegations that Overwatch illegally detained people without access to basic amenities. He could already hear Gabriel’s response in his head; how it was Jack’s responsibility to deal with press, how that was a responsibility he’d jumped at when he took over Gabriel’s job, how none of this would have happened if Jack hadn’t put two Shimada brothers in one base, how he was just looking out for his own team… Jack’s face wilted and he looked away.

 

It reminded Reyes of the face on the hologram last night before it winked off.

 

“Jack, I’ll take care of it. Go back to worrying your pretty head in your office and I’ll fill you in when there’s something worth telling.” He could see protest in Jack’s face, so Reyes put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. It was a manipulative move. The contact always reminded Jack of the better days they’d shared. He felt guilty when Jack’s face predictably smoothed over and filled with hope.

 

“Please try to be polite, Gabe. I could really use the intel this guy has. If there’s a way we can get him onside that doesn’t… upset your team dynamic-”

 

“Then I’ll be sure to try for that outcome. Run along, Jackie.”

 

Jack nodded. He turned away, but then paused. He looked back. Reyes could feel his patience waning.

 

“You don’t need to shave. You look good.” Jack gave him a small genuine smile. The kind that had always made Reyes’ heart skip a beat. He swore faintly as the Strike Commander walked away.

 

Gabriel flipped the file up from the desk outside the interrogation room. Jack had left him a full dossier on Hanzo Shimada. Reyes wasn’t interested in anything the folder could tell him, but he’d take it with him because paperwork made detainees afraid. Nothing like a little bureaucracy to make one appear alien and untouchable.

 

“The fuck is this?” He motioned to a tray on the table near the door, harbouring a teapot, cup, and selection of breakfast items.

 

“I had a spare moment,” Angela said from behind him. He turned to face her, expression levelling to familiar thundercloud dark. “And in my medical opinion, human beings need sustenance to live. I took the liberty of preparing green tea, in the hope to smooth over the gross offence we’ve done Mr Shimada.” She stared at him with cold blue eyes.

 

“The offence is all mine.” Reyes reminded her unnecessarily, “And I ain’t yet finished being offensive. The tea can wait. And I fail to believe you’ve had a spare moment, Doc. Go do your job and stop letting Morrison boss you around doing trivial shit.”

 

“My _job_ is obeying the Strike Commander.” Her gaze was sharp, “Thought it was yours too, when last I checked.” Angela strode off before he could give her a mouthful of abuse for that painful jab. Reyes, swore under his breath again. He put his finger to the print lock and the door beeped open.

 

The man within was surprisingly calm and collected considering his predicament. Reyes had rather been hoping a night cooling in this room would have broken some of the man’s composure. He was impressed, if also irritated, to find this wasn’t the case.

 

Hanzo Shimada was sitting calmly at the interrogation table. He wore a smartly tailored navy blue suit, and a crisp shirt and tie. Dark unreadable eyes met Reyes’ as he entered. There was a deliberate-feeling pause, then Hanzo got up and bowed.

 

“Commander Reyes, I presume?”

 

Reyes pulled out a chair, letting it scrape with a high pitch across the floor. He seated himself heavily and set the file on the table. He twitched the file open. Hanzo sat back down and folded his hands together.

 

“Strike Commander Morrison intimated that you may have some questions for me.”

 

“I have questions.” Now that the file was open, Reyes realised it was a lot more interesting than the usual files Jack passed him. There seemed to be several full pages of Yakusa-linked criminal activities arranged by date and by how strongly they could be tied to the person before him. “Impressive list.” Reyes gestured to the file. Hanzo tilted his head, seeming to take that as a complement. “Murdering your brother on here?” Reyes inquired.

 

There was a stiff silence. Reyes watched his prisoner. A fractional tightening of his eyes was the only thing that betrayed his anger.

 

“Strike Commander Morrison suggested I may be less guilty of that crime than I first thought.” Hanzo said with measure that still sounded strained.

 

“No, you’re still pretty fucking guilty.” Reyes snapped. He blinked, surprised at his own fury. He usually excelled at interrogation, keeping himself far removed from the circles he ran round his detainees.

 

There was another silence. Reyes kept his eyes on the file while he drew himself together.

 

“I appreciate your anger, Commander Reyes.” Hanzo Shimada said quietly, “If my brother truly lives, it is good that he has someone to be angry for him. He deserves someone to be outraged on his behalf. I would not trust anyone who knew our story and treated me otherwise.”

 

Reyes turned a page to buy himself time to think what to say. He kept flicking through pages, until he remember the red eyes under the hospital bed and a soft respirator-aided voice asking him to promise to keep him safe. He fixed Hanzo Shimada with a fierce look.

 

“Have you come to finish what you started?”

 

“No,” Came the immediate reply, “I did not know that my brother lived until I arrived here. I’m not here to harm him.”

 

“Yet you came to his room yesterday.”

 

Hanzo frowned, no doubt wondering how Reyes could know such a thing,

 

“I came to make peace with him.”

 

“ _Peace?_ ” Reyes sneered.

 

“Yes,” Hanzo said emotionlessly. “If I am to work on this base, then Genji should know that I am not here to cause him further pain. I am not seeking to renew any ties whatsoever with him. I am under no illusions that my actions were unforgivable. To say I regret my actions could not hope to encompass the magnitude of the weight they place upon my shoulders. My life has changed much since that day, as I’m sure has his. As you have no doubt read in my file, I have been dismantling Yakuza activities in my home prefecture and am here to share what I know with Strike Commander Morrison regarding associated Omnic reselling on the Black Market.”

 

Reyes’s fingers hovered over the file he hadn’t read. This interrogation was beginning to feel a little reversed.

 

“If I had my way,” Hanzo continued, “I would favour removing myself from all contact with Genji. I waived all right to preferences when I raised my hand against him however, and am happy to do whatever he, or you, as his commanding officer, feels preferable.”

 

Reyes narrowed his eyes,

 

“How am I meant to trust a word you say?”

 

“I am a man of my word, Commander Reyes. I always have been.”

 

“Guessing you never promised not to slice up your own brother then.”

 

Hanzo didn’t answer that. He gave no indication of irritation at all. He simply sat patiently.

 

Reyes closed the file and stood.

 

“If I may…?” Hanzo interjected.

 

Reyes waited him out.

 

“How did my brother survive? I… thought I was quite thorough.”

 

Reyes gave him a dead look,

 

“You were very thorough,” He said dryly.

 

“Then how…?” Hanzo’s expression was peaked with sharp interest.

 

Reyes left him unanswered. He signalled on his way out for one of the personnel staff to bring the tray of food and tea in.

 

“Give Mr Shimada access to the rest of the detention wing, but see that he goes no further.”

 

He left, but this time took Hanzo Shimada’s file with him.

 

***

 

Genji knocked on Commander Reyes office. He’d sat for an hour in the clinic this morning persuading Angela that yesterday had left no lasting ill effect on him, before she finally gave him the fluid intake needed for what remained of his human body to keep functioning.

 

The commander was lying on a sofa eating an apple and reading a case file.

 

“Got something important for you to do.” Reyes said by way of greeting.

 

“You do?” Genji was hopeful. A mission might mean he could vacate the base whilst all this trouble blew over.

 

“Yep. Move that waste paper bin two inches to the left.”

 

Genji did as he was told. Reyes threw his apple core in an arc and it bounced into the bin.

 

“ _Gracia_ _s_.” Reyes returned to the case file.

 

“Was that it?” Genji couldn’t keep the testiness from his voice.

 

“Yep.” Reyes sat up, laid the file he was reading on the table, put his hands behind his head, and finally gave Genji his attention. “Spoke to your brother this morning.”

 

Genji stood very still.

 

“Says he’s not here to finish murdering you,” Reyes continued, “Just here on business. He’s happy to keep out of your way if you’ll keep out of his.”

 

Genji felt his insides run cold. His mind went unbidden to that replayed scene between him and Hanzo. He thought of the hours spent looking for a hint of emotion on his brother’s face. He thought of the body he lived with, and struggled with every day. It somehow made everything worse that even now, after it all, Hanzo could still handle all this with the same distance. Perhaps there really had been no emotion to that day, after all.

 

“Unless you’d rather meet him?” Reyes tilted his head, trying to look into Genji’s face and gauge the response happening there.

 

Genji shook his head vigorously. He didn’t need the spectre of his nightmares to get any more real. And there was that other matter. The shame of being seen like this. To say Hanzo would not approve of what had become of him would be the understatement of the century. A small tiny voice of the old Genji dared to hope that perhaps Hanzo would understand, that after what had been done, this is what it had taken for Genji to be able to walk again. That voice was quashed by a louder voice insisting that death should have been preferable than to live in such a state as this. That would be Hanzo’s position without a doubt. He didn’t need that too. Not on top of everything.

 

“Genji?” Reyes asked patiently.

 

The cyborg turned to him, confusion in his face and distress in his red eyes.

 

“Whatever you want is what will happen.” Reyes said more slowly, “I can arrange for you to speak with him if you want. It could be in private, or with me, or-”

 

Genji shook his head all the more vigorously.

 

“I don’t want to see him.” Genji managed to keep his voice even, “Not now, not ever.”

 

“Alright. You don’t have to speak to him.”

 

Genji marked the slightly different words the commander used.

 

“Your brother has some useful intel we need. If he stays here in Gibraltar for the next six months… is that going to cause problems?”

 

Genji knew what the commander was asking. He was asking if he’d find Genji hiding under a bed. Yesterday had been humiliating enough, Genji didn’t need the one person who relied on his abilities to think he was weak.

 

“No problem.” Genji said flatly.

 

Reyes was hunting his expressions again. Genji wished he wouldn’t. The mask was there for a reason, and not just to act in place of the lower jaw he’d lost.

 

“If you want this fucker gone. I can make it happen,” Reyes said, giving Genji one last opportunity to object.

 

Genji had heard enough of the commander’s conversations with the Strike Commander recently to know that this was a sore point between them. The commander never discussed the difficulties between Overwatch and Blackwatch, but Genji knew enough. And he knew that if there was one person’s life he didn’t want to make more difficult, it was the commander who always listened, who waited that extra moment to dig down to the truths Genji was hiding. Genji pulled back his shoulders and held his head high.

 

“Six months. I can handle six months, Commander. Please inform him I want nothing to do with him.” He could see Reyes was still unsure. “And if you could find me a Blackwatch mission in the mean time to take me off this base…” He added.

 

Reyes relaxed a little. He sighed and nodded. He picked up his dossier and stood.

 

“You got it, kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the faves, comments and support! Writing slightly stressed Gabe is a lot of fun. As is writing cool and collected Hanzo. There will be more of both!


	4. Sanctuary from the World

Genji became even more careful walking around the Watchpoint. He’d already been careful before – he didn’t eat the way others did, so could avoid the corridors around communal meal times. When his time was his own, he structured his day to fit around when the gym, the showers, the shooting range, and the sparring rooms were not being used. Previously, that had meant a very nocturnal lifestyle. That all changed now that Hanzo was somewhere on the base. He knew that his brother valued privacy and would likely adopt a more nocturnal pattern himself. If Genji planned to avoid him above all, he was going to have to start seeing a lot more of other people. Perhaps that was no bad thing, he reasoned, if others were around then if Hanzo saw him and got any urges to finish where they’d left off… Genji pushed that thought away. He’d taken to wearing a large baggy sweater to hide the scarring on his arm and what was visible of his face. With any luck, even if he ended up in the same room as his brother, he wouldn’t be recognised. It also made him feel less visible in a room where people had flesh instead of steel.

 

Genji walked into the lunch hall at lunch time, the one place he definitely wasn’t going to find Hanzo. He found himself immediately in a queue for a canteen. He looked around at the tables but didn’t see anyone he knew. He stayed in line to buy himself some time. He picked up a tray when he got the part of the queue picking up trays. Then there were colours and lights and bright foods behind glass in front of them. He could even faintly smell them. He kept his hoodie pulled low and reached with his human hand for a yoghurt. It seemed like the easiest thing to pick up and not eat. He took his tray with its lone yogurt and found an empty table near the back of the hall. He sat down and looked at the yoghurt. He felt stupid.

 

He picked up the pot and turned it over in his hand. He set it back down again. The rest of the hall was lined with long tables, filled with people chatting, laughing, locked in conversations and absorbed in their own microcosms. Not so long ago, he hadn’t been so different. He wondered if there had been people in the periphery of his old life who went unnoticed whilst he was intent on his own self-fulfilment.

 

“Genji? That you?”

 

Genji started, the Strike Commander was before him all dressed in his brilliant sky blue uniform, and holding a full healthy tray of food. Genji stood quickly.

 

“Please don’t get up.” Jack smiled.

 

Genji sat back down, unsure what to do with himself.

 

“Things going ok for you?” The Strike Commander asked. Genji nodded. “Sorry about the… situation I’ve put you in.” Jack tried to catch his eye, but the cyborg retreated under his hood and said nothing. Jack nodded, still holding his lunch tray. “So… I don’t think I’ve seen you in the canteen before.” Jack tried changing tack.

 

Genji picked up his yoghurt,

 

“I don’t… really eat.” Genji said, “I was just picking this up… for McCree.”

 

“Oh… To add to the pile?” Jack grinned then nodded over his shoulder to where Jesse was tottering towards a table with a stack of yogurts on his tray piled up next to his meal. Genji leapt up.

 

“Yes.” He said curtly. Gave a small bow and sprang in Jesse’s direction.

 

“Sit with me.” Genji hissed, balancing his yoghurt on McCree’s pile and steering him by his elbow.

 

“Woah watch it, this is a delicate operation!”

 

“The Strike Commander is trying to talk to me.” Genji whispered.

 

“No fraternising with the enemy remember,” Jesse winked, but Genji wasn’t entirely sure he was joking. They sat down far away from the Strike Commander. He gave them a smile that Jesse returned vaguely, then went off to join a table where Reinhardt’s bulk could be seen towering above all others, guffawing with laughter at some joke. “All clear.” Jesse unwrapped his cutlery from a serviette. “What are you even doing here, you don’t eat.”

 

“I do.” Genji said sullenly.

 

“What does the Doc even feed you. Is it just soup? A man can’t live off soup alone.”

 

“It’s not just soup.” Genji gave him a bored look, “It’s whatever is needed.” McCree pulled a face. “It’s not like I taste it,” Genji said, a little bitterness creeping into his voice, “It goes somewhere else. Not my throat.” He shrugged.

 

“Please! I’m tryna eat here. You’re pulverised soup chat is turnin’ m’stomach.”

 

Genji liked that McCree never pitied him, or tried to walk on eggshells over the topic of his injuries, even if his blunt honesty would have horrified the Shimada clan back home with his complete disregard of courtesy.

 

“So,” A piece of broccoli waggled on a fork as McCree spoke, “You really don’t taste anything?”

 

“Sometimes, if I’m close enough, I can still smell things. That’s a little like taste.”

 

“Aw shoot. I think Moira ain’t wrong that you should maybe ask the Doc to look into that.”

 

“Dr Ziegler has done enough.” Genji didn’t mean that to come out so accusatory, “I mean she’s done a lot for me already. Being alive and functioning is good enough for me.” He added quickly.

 

“Sure.” McCree said a little uncertainly. “So… the boss found anything for you yet? I know you’re keen on getting out of here.”

 

Genji pulled the strings on his hoodie so that his face was a little more hidden.

 

“He said he’d find me another recon mission. He’s going through the files seeing who he wants to illegally spy on.”

 

Jesse choked on a glass of water he was sipping.

 

“He said it like that? Damn, he’s not even trying to hide it any more. One of these days him and Morrison are going to fall out so bad…”

 

Genji nodded. It was easier to talk just him and McCree.

 

“Seems like they really hate each other.”

 

Jesse pulled a face,

 

“It’s complicated. Maybe they do hate each other, I dunno any more. But it wasn’t always that way. They were tight as hell back in the day. Some folks say maybe even more than friends.”

 

Genji’s eyebrows raised,

 

“The commander and…?” He glanced over at Jack Morrison, smiling with his soldiers, encouraging them, and all sunshine and radiating enthusiasm for those around him. People nearby seemed lit up just by his presence.

 

“Unlikely yeah, I know.”

 

“The commander is so… not like Jack Morrison.” Genji finished poorly.

 

Jesse chewed a carrot, he pointed his fork as he talked,

 

“True, but back when I first met the boss, and we’re talking when I was about yea high, he wasn’t so… doom ‘n’ gloom. And it always used to be if he was in a bad mood, you could pray the Strike Commander would stop by ‘cause the boss’s mood would go from black to like-… This brightness. You could see the hardness just melting away.” He shook his head, “He was a different man when Jack Morrison was about.”

 

Genji pondered this for a moment.

 

“To me it seems he gets angrier when the Strike Commander is near by. His temper is shorter. It is harder do things the way he wishes.”

 

“That’s the way of it now.” McCree finished eating in silence. When he was done, he stretched out his serape and swiped all the yogurts into it. He bundled them all up and held them do him. “Time to make a break for it.” A yoghurt threatened to tumble out of his bundle. “Here, hide this.” He thrust it into Genji’s hand.

 

“I don’t want this.” Genji stuffed the yoghurt and his hands into his hoodie jumper. “Stop stealing stuff – why do you even need all these?”

 

“Young man’s gotta grow. Besides, old habits die hard.”

 

They brought their lifted goods to the Blackwatch commonroom and piled them all into the refrigerator. The room was low key and usually empty. It had a long panel window that, though not large, still gave them reprieve from the blank watchpoint corridors, and a view down onto the black cliffs. Rain had just started to spatter against the glass. A dark weatherfront was rolling in, stirring up the grey waves and muting the commonroom in monochrome colours.

 

Genji shook his head free of his hood and curled into the corner of a couch.

 

“How come you’re joining in for the meal times now?” McCree said as he tried to close the fridge door. He had to lean all his weight against it to try and get the door closed.

 

Genji shrugged non-committally. He moved his mechanical fingers, twitching them so that they loaded shuriken between his fingers. He tested one experimentally at the dartboard. It hit the green inner circle but missed the bullseye. He blinked, refocussing his vision and letting the more robotic parts of his system adjust to the specifics he needed. His next throw was perfect. He span his last shuriken between his fingers, watching it blur to a wheel between his fingers.

 

“Okay.” McCree came and sat himself on the back of the couch, nearly tipping the whole thing over, “So I’m guessing you’re there, because your brother won’t be. Which means other Shimada brother is … even _more_ antisocial than this one?”

 

A bitter laugh escaped Genji,

 

“You have no idea.” He leaned forward and tapped McCree on the knee with his shuriken, “ _I’m_ the sociable one.”

 

“Coulda fooled me.” McCree muttered.

 

Genji’s face was strained for a moment, then he sat up straighter,

 

“People change. Like how you say the commander did. Lighting up for Jack Morrison. Once Shimada Genji lit up too. For all life, for any opportunity, for danger seeking, for fun, for reckless idiocies. But that got him killed. So now he is not so bright.” Genji stood. He flung his hood back up, put his hands in his pockets, and left.

 

McCree watched the empty place where Genji had sat. The rain sounded heavy and constant on the window.

 

***

 

Genji stood straight with his hands behind his back. His family had spent a life time trying to get him to pay attention, hold himself properly, and to take life seriously. He found it ironic that it was only once they’d washed their hands of him that he finally met that mark.

 

“As promised.” Reyes slid a file across a coffee table. “Take a look.”

 

Genji took the file gingerly. Knowing the Commander, the mission might be anywhere and involve any number of suspect activities.

 

“I do not know where this place is.” He said, after glancing at the file.

 

“Scotland.” Reyes felt around on the lower shelf of the coffee table and pulled out a box of cigars. He rattled them and one fell out. He gave it a folorn look before shrugging, clipping its end, lighting it up, and leaning back as he took a long pull from it. He breathed smoke slowly into the room. “Never heard of Scotland?”

 

“I have.” Genji frowned at the page before him, “But not Glass-… glass-”

 

“Glasgow. No, well. Hardly at the forefront of the Omnic wars, but there’s a new shipyard opened up there. Someone’s getting the old docks up and running again after they’ve been silent for over a hundred years. Got a tip that a Titan might be involved.”

 

“Might be? Commander, you can’t hide a Titan.”

 

“Guessing you haven’t seen a Glasgow shipyard. Go chat to Moira, this is more her neck of the woods. But Genji,” Reyes tipped his cigar in the cyborg’s direction, “This is infiltration and observation only, okay? So long as this stays silent, it can stay off the books. Otherwise it has to go through Jack, and going through Jack means going through the UN, and that means its six months tops before this mission goes back on the table. And what does baby Shimada not want?”

 

“To be stuck on this base during the next six months.” Genji said dully.

 

“Right you are. Go read your homework.”

 

An hour later Genji was swinging his feet as he sat on a unit in Moira’s lab flicking through the file.

 

“Now repeat that back to me,” Moira said as she swirled a flask and dropped a slip of litmus paper in.

 

“If someone insults me, its a form of endearment.” He let his steel heels dent the wooden cupboard door below him, and took small vindictive delight in the irritated look Moira gave him. “But how will I know if someone’s angry with me?”

 

“Oh, you’ll know.” She lifted the paper back out and waved it a little. She sighed on seeing it was red. “Look at this,” She said, “Fecking useless.”

 

“Does Overwatch have permission to operate in England?” Genji watched her experiments with a reserved distance. He always felt like there was a fine line between himself and the things Moira tampered with.

 

“The United Kingdom,” She corrected, “And no, the UK is off limits. Which is why I suggested the commander have you flown into Ireland. You’re to casually go visiting Scotland. On a private jet that’ll pick you up once you get off your commercial flight.”

 

“You seem to know more about this mission than I do.”

 

“Wrote half that file you’ve got in your hand.”

 

Genji looked at the file with renewed interest.

 

Moira set down her work and turned to him. She place one hand on her hip.

 

“So.”

 

Genji immediately felt uneasy.

 

“I’ve been thinking about your dilemma-” She gestured to Genji’s external wires and tubing.

 

“It’s not a dilemma,” He said curtly, “It’s under control.”

 

“It’s a half finished job is what it is. I’ve got plans. Between Angela and I, I think we can reconstruct your oesophagus and trachea. You’d be able to feed yourself-”

 

“I can feed myself already.”

 

“Solid food. Should be able to get that jaw doing some real work for you.”

 

Genji hesitated. He hated the idea of going back to the operating table, but… His thoughts went to the communal lunch hall and how everyone sat about laughing and sharing things. Even the commander and Moira and Jesse had recreation time structured around eating and drinking. He felt even more the outsider when he had to sit and not take part. Perhaps it would give him back something important if he could join in with that. A picture jumped suddenly to mind – two boys running down a hall, sliding to a kneel at the dinner table, wolfing down their dinner whilst being lightly scolded for eating too quickly. Hanzo finished first and got up from the table, vanishing round the door. Genji had to hurry to keep pace with him, always just in Hanzo’s shadow even as they ran to play. He shook his head.

 

“If Doctor Ziegler agrees, then I’m willing to give it a go.”

 

“Yes…” Said Moira slowly, “About that…”

 

Genji looked up sharply,

 

“What are you hiding? I don’t want you experimenting on me like some lab rat.”

 

“ _Please.”_ Moira scoffed at him, “Have some grace. I treat my rats very well. And I’ll not hear anything to the contrary.”

 

Genji jumped down off the unit, he pointed a mechanical finger at her,

 

“You scare me. I trust Doctor Ziegler. Talk to her about it. I don’t care what happens as long as I come out of it not looking like more of a freak that I already do.”

 

***

 

Two days later he was walking off a commercial flight into Dublin. He was wearing the largest serape in McCree’s collection and had wrapped most of his face in a scarf. He’d nearly missed his flight after being forced to wait forty minutes at security for setting off every metal detector in sight and being forced to buy a more expensive ticket as an Omnic-class citizen. He started up his receiver as soon as he was off the plane. There was a faint buzzing. He tapped his head and the feed settled.

 

“There you are.” The commander’s voice sounded in his head, an unnerving experience, but Genji was starting to get used to the internal receiver. It was certainly better than having to mask the sounds of the commander ranting in his ear during a mission.

 

“Please don’t talk too much, Commander. I’m in a public place. I don’t need to draw any more attention by talking to myself.”

 

“I haven’t got a feed up and running. Where’s my camera?”

 

Genji balked,

 

“They didn’t-! Did they install-?!”

 

“Haha, just kiddin’. I did want live feed through your eyes, but Angela flagged it as a breach of privacy and Jack wouldn’t sign off on it.”

 

“Good!” Genji ducked deeper into his headscarf as people near by turned their heads his way, muttering as they passed him.

 

The private jet they’d hired had been through one of Moira’s contacts, and had a big corporate logo down one side of it and tagline of dubious morals emblazoned beneath. Genji was chaperoned aboard as an honoured guest, but felt distinctly as though everyone was only tolerating him as a favour. He had the whole body of the aircraft to himself, with luxury seating, mini-fridges, and televisions, but sat himself at the back curled his legs up to his chest and stared out the window. The runway was a gloomy grey after the azure blues of Gibraltar. It reminded him of his home in winter. The way the cherry trees would drop their leaves in flurries of auburn, red, and gold, and the streets would slowly grey to charcoal sketches, muted in soft rain. Then the colder weather would come, and the snow would fall, and the arcades beyond the castle would light up neon in the grey world, all shining with allure after the stiff tradition and schooling of the family residence. He pulled his knees tighter against his chest, wondering not for the first time, if he’d just paid a little more attention in those lessons, if he’d just gone a few less times to the arcades and bright lights and the city beyond, if he’d just been a little more like his brother, perhaps it wouldn’t have come to this. Perhaps his family would never have given the order, perhaps Hanzo would never have gone through with it. He bowed his head to his knees and closed his eyes.

 

“You on that jet yet?”

 

Genji jumped, worried someone might have seen that vulnerability. When he realised it was just the commander over his radio, he relaxed a little. It was even a fraction reassuring to have the commander’s voice nearby.

 

“Yes, sir. Just getting ready to leave Dublin.”

 

“Did you see Siobhan Brown, the leading experimental biochemist? She arranged that jet so if you catch her, tell her to drop me a line.” That was definitely not the commander.

 

“Is Moira there too?” Genji asked with irritation.

 

“She’s beautiful. Her research, I mean. Well, I suppose she’d a bit of a looker herself. Ah if I could have just popped by her lab...”

 

Genji heard the commander shooing Moira away from the comms.

 

“No trouble so far, kid?” He heard Reyes voice again.

 

He thought about mentioning the trouble at the airport to the commander, but that would achieve nothing at best, and some international scandal if the commander actually got involved on his behalf.

 

“No trouble, Commander. The plane will leave soon, so I have to switch my radio off.”

 

“Sure. Update me when you’ve reached your destination.”

 

Genji switched his comms off with a thought. The cabin was quiet. Genji wasn’t sure that was an improvement. The smooth start of the engine was almost imperceptible over the sound of rain on concrete outside. Soon the world was tilting and went thicker slate greys and the black of thunder clouds. Genji wondered what his mother would think if she knew her youngest son lived, and was half way around the world on a private jet in the pouring rain working for some shady unknown wing of Overwatch.

 

It was raining in Glasgow too. Genji could feel goosebumps crawl up his skin, and irritations start at the places where steel bonded to his flesh. Rain always made his prosthetics ache. He cursed and ignored the corporate busybodies trying to wish him a pleasant trip. By the time he reached the city centre he was soaked and it was beginning to hurt to walk. He would definitely have to talk to Angela about sealing over the joins between his body and his mechanical parts.

 

He stopped beneath the glowing doors of the hotel he’d been booked into. It looked warm and inviting. Inside he could see people – humans, checking in, sitting in the lobby, ordering coffee, leaning over maps, or rooting inside handbags. He walked on up the street. He hadn’t turned his radio back on. He’d have to soon or the commander would wonder where he’d meandered off to.

 

He found a series of arches all tunnelled beneath a viaduct, and took shelter in one with a working lightbulb. The walls were full of half peeled signs for old art exhibitions and live music concerts. He turned his own lights on and bathed the tunnel in red light, forgetting some of his discomfort as he read strange signs for a long gone gallery. He only remembered after twenty minutes or so to turn his radio back on.

 

“Boss, boss, Genji’s back online!” He heard McCree in his head this time.

 

“Out of my way.” The familiar snap of Commander Reyes rolled gradually closer as he stalked towards the comms.

 

“I said update me when you reach your destination, Shimada. What have you been doing, frying Marsbars?”

 

Genji wasn’t sure what a Marsbar was.

 

“Got a little lost.” He gave lamely, “All fine now.”

 

“All fine except you’re the wrong side of the Clyde. I’ve got your GPS here, dumbass. Now get yourself checked in to the hotel and-”

 

“Commander.” Genji broke in. Reyes stopped at the sharp sound in Genji’s voice, “I know this trade. And a half-machine in a hotel is not low key. Let me do this my way. I’ll contact you if I need you.”

 

There was silence. It could have gone either way, and Genji winced slightly at the thought having to face the commander’s temper when he got back.

 

“Alright.” Reyes said after a bit, “Do as you wish. But keep a low profile, and look after yourself. It says here there’s ninety-six percent humidity in Glasgow – don’t take any chances if that tech is playing up on you. You know how it gets.”

 

Even from three thousand miles away Reyes still seemed to know what was bothering him.

 

“Yes, Commander.”

 

Reyes signed off, and left Genji in the quiet again. He sat in the softly illumined red arch, looking up at the relics from older times about him. He powered down just before midnight and slid into the first peaceful sleep he’d had since Hanzo arrived at Watchpoint Gibraltar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't stop writing this thing. Got a backlog of 12 chapters atm. So in answer to the question will there be more- Yes. Lots more ;)


	5. Petition to the Gods

Genji was up early the next morning. He’d shed the serape and scarf and dimmed his lights, preferring to move with stealth through the thin mist and drizzle. The roads were still lit with streetlamps and a couple of confused drunks were still up and ambling about. He was reminded vaguely of an occasion where he’d been made to accompany Hanzo at an insane hour in the morning to visit the docks at Sendai. He’d been up late the night before and stumbled home a bit like the wayward folks he could see now. Hanzo had dragged him out of bed at five A.M. anyway and Genji had been fast asleep for half the journey on the bullet train. Hanzo had let him sleep, Genji realised, and had woken him only as they pulled into their stop. He’d been amused by Genji’s sullen sleepy state, and laughed at the possibility of Genji missing his stop and only waking up when the train pulled into its terminus in Tokyo. They’d stopped off for hot noodles at Genji’s request, even though their task was urgent. Genji was quiet as he thought on that. It wasn’t often that the memories that came to him were of gentler, better times.

 

He arrived at the docks at much a similar hour as he and Hanzo had at their own dockyard mission, many years ago. All docks worked early hours. Not this one though. Genji meandered through several miles of empty warehouses and silent cranes. He jumped fences and cut a few rusty perimeter wires with the short wakizashi at his side (another exploit he’d be chided for were he at home). All industry on the Clyde was dead. He walked out onto a jetty that he recognised was purpose built for outfitting enormous ships. There was another running parallel to it, both jutting out at an angle into the river. There was another beyond that, and another, and another. He imagined the gargantuan boats that must have sailed out these silent havens. He took a running jump between the jetties, enjoying the freedom of his new body. After another hour of searching, he blinked his radio on.

 

“Commander?” There was no reply. Genji continued following the river north east, hoping he’d find his working dock if he kept following the river’s path toward the sea.

 

“Genji.” He heard Commander Reyes crackle in over the comm. He sounded tired. It was still early, Genji realised.

 

“Sorry, Commander. Didn’t meant to wake you.”

 

“Everything good?”

 

He could hear Reyes walk his headset across the room and turn on a coffee machine. The sounds were so vivid Genji could almost imagine he was back at the watchpoint where it was warm, and a full wind with a smattering of rain wasn’t blowing in his face. Then he remember Hanzo Shimada was also at the watchpoint.

 

“Yes. Do you have an exact GPS for this suspect dock I’m meant to be checking out. It all looks dead here.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Genji could hear the coffee machine bubbling,

 

“I can call back if now isn’t a good time, Commander.”

 

“Cool it, Kid. I think better when I’ve got coffee. Now, let’s see.” Reyes sipped his coffee and swore when he burnt his tongue. “Sure, you’re still a way south east of the GPS location.”

 

“I’ve been walking for an hour and a half, Commander.” Genji said a little testily.

 

“Well you probably got another hour to go then. Better get those legs moving. Provided you didn’t sit out in a storm last night and rust them to nothing.”

 

“I didn’t sit out in a storm, Commander.”

 

“Eaten at all today?”

 

Genji fell quiet, he had in fact forgotten to eat.

 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Reyes sipped his coffee.

 

“I’ve got the ration packs Doctor Ziegler made for me. I’ll have one when I get there. Anyway, Commander, I thought Doctor Ziegler said only having coffee for breakfast was bad for you.”

 

“Your superior officer is allowed to worry about you, not the other way around. Get a move on, Shimada. And keep your radio on when you reach the GPS location. I’m not going to start dictating your moves down the phone, I just want to be able to reach you if there’s trouble.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

Reyes closed the channel after sending the coordinates direct to Genji’s visor. An overlay of his target location filtered over his vision. Genji upped the power in his armour and began to run, burning down the miles much more quickly now that he had an exact location.

 

Genji was surprised to find after a short while that there were faded signposts to ‘Titan Clydebank’. The typeface was old, maybe early 2000s, with that slightly prim slant that spoke of generation that still had hope in corporatism and marketing. Genji shaded his eyes as the morning sun nudged out between grey clouds and set the river glittering. A small inlet of water stood before him. On the other side was an enormous crane, easily over a hundred and fifty feet high. Genji squinted through the bright light. The crane was bulky, armoured even. Genji stopped before a display board, positioned so that a visitor from the city could read the board while looking out over the inlet and getting a feel for the full size of the crane. Genji frowned when the board didn’t light up as he approached. He gave it a prod. Nothing. He tapped its side, hoping to jerk the display into working. Nothing. He smeared a hand over it and a ream of green algae uncovered a printed board, with no electronics at all. Genji wrinkled his nose in distaste at the slime on his hand, but wiped the board clean. It was a tourist display board, telling him the history of the ‘Titan’. He frowned in confusion. The thing was dated as being built in 1907. He winked his comms on, then paused, unsure what to tell the commander. He flicked them off again and decided to explore first.

 

He dimmed his lights and slipped into stealth mode. A newer looking warehouse had been erected and stood between him and the crane. He paused by one of its smooth steel grey walls and pulled a liquid ration pack out of a small satchel stowed near his katana. He untwisted a nozzle at the back of his skull and fixed it to the ration pack. He squeezed the contents distastefully down the tube, then tossed the thing away and replaced his wiring. He wouldn’t feel the effects of the nourishment for another half hour or so, but at the least the commander wouldn’t be on his back about it.

 

He slipped round the back of the warehouse until he found an unlocked side door. He nudged it open a fraction and glanced through. He glimpsed a spacious room beyond, but no sign of movement. He pushed the door a little wider and moved through sideways, then immediately stepped into the shadows. He took stock of an enormous warehouse interior. It was stacked with boxes, and dusted with the murmur of voices coming from an angle he couldn’t quite locate. He climbed silently up a sheer stack of crates, leapt lightly on top, then jumped up to the rafters. He moved catlike along a steel beam, careful to keep his footsteps silent. He caught sight of his targets. In a far corner of the warehouse, tucked away behind large stacks of sheet metal and girders was a small table with a number of people slumped about it. Genji tilted his head and sat silent, listening to their chatter.

 

“Is that coffee about ready?”

 

“Aye.” A tall man with tattoos on his biceps brought in a large pot and began pouring into cups.

 

“Can’t believe we really managed to get that shipment in. Think it went undetected?”

 

“Who’s watching a ton of steel go up the Clyde? Got to be bored off your tits to do that,” A thin girl said. She had bright dyed hair and a cigarette hanging out her mouth.

 

A woman in a tank top waved her away,

 

“Don’t be so sure. The shipment came too close for my liking. If they suspect Theia-”

 

“If they suspected her then we’d have the pigs banging down our door already. And what’re we going to do if they do suspect? We’ve come too far and got too little else to give up. If we can set an example here, then even when it all comes crashing down on our heads, maybe it’ll have been worth something.” The tattooed man said that as he finished pouring the coffee.

 

“Always the dreamer,” This speaker had a full quiff of red hair and two nose rings. They drank their coffee with a relaxed confidence that reminded Genji of the commander, “It doesn’t matter what this achieves. It doesn’t matter if no one hears of it or us, or if it sets the stage for a new world order or if the cops come in and clap us tomorrow. All that matters is that we’re here now. Doing it. Doing what we ought.” They drained their mug and set it on the table. “I’m going to check on Theia, see if she needs anything. Was someone going to work on getting her mobile today?”

 

“Aye, got a working group trying to patch that. Gonnae be a wee bit difficult to keep her looking like an antique crane though.”

 

Genji’s eyes flashed with interest. He kept low and slunk along the roof beams, following the red haired person as they navigated stacks and crates until they opened a side door. An oblong of daylight fell across the warehouse floor, then vanished as the door shut. Genji marked the places of the other workers, then dropped lightly to the floor with only a faint tap of his armoured boots. He turned the handle to the door and the latch clicked open. He stepped out into the grey weather and was immediately wary. A concrete plinth was before him, and erupting out of it was the enormous industrial crane. Except that up close it looked much less like a crane. It’s skeletal structure was still load-bearing, but there were additional pistons and joint-like mechanisms part way up, and its long crane arm was articulated.

 

“Commander.” Genji whispered.

 

“Here.” Reyes replied almost immediately.

 

“Can you send that image of the Titan in the case file to my visor?”

 

“Sure.” There was a pause, “Done.”

 

Genji pulled up the file and overlayed it with the thing infront of him. It was by no means an exact match, but there was enough resemblance to give him pause.

 

“You got a match?” Reyes asked.

 

“I’ll let you know when I know.”

 

Just as Genji was about to take a closer look, there was a grinding and searing screech of metal on metal. He flattened himself against the wall. The machine before him jerked, then one of its arms creaked into motion, bending slowly and stooping toward the ground. Genji was painfully aware of how exposed he was if someone happened to glance his way. He found himself rooted to the spot with interest however. The arm was lifting back up now, and seated on its vice-like hand was the red-haired human.

 

Genji crept closer.

 

“Sorry we didn’t meet out here with you.” He heard the human say, “The weather’s grim, though that’s no excuse. I meant what I said about you being a full member. Only the others seem to forget at the first sign of rain. You got full rights to be in our meetings.”

 

The enormous machine lifted the human perched on its hand up to what might have been its eye-level.

 

“The things we’re going to build together…”

 

There was a creak and a heave like the sound of old anchors being weighed out the sea,

 

“TELL ME ABOUT THEM, LIN.” The voice reverberated through the very stone under Genji’s feet.

 

The red-haired human, Lin, stretched out a hand toward the river,

 

“Ships, so tall they’ll fill the skies. Small worlds that fly over the seas, untouched by the governments of the land. Havens from darkness.”

 

“I CANNOT FIT IN A SHIP, LIN.”

 

“No,” Said Lin, “And I doubt I’ll ever get in one either. But someone may. And in the mean time, these days we shared together weren’t so bad, were they.”

 

The machine paused for a moment, then said,

 

“NO, THEY WEREN’T.”

 

***

 

Genji hadn’t reported in to Commander Reyes yet. He knew the commander expected him to, but was giving him the space to do it in his own time. Genji couldn’t say why he hadn’t. He had been watching the old shipyard all day, and was now almost certain that an Omnic Crisis era Titan was posing as an early nineteenth century shipbuilding crane and subsequent sightseeing landmark. He supposed it was something to do with the people here. He had been expecting faceless dockworkers, busily attending to some nefarious plan, or perhaps even Omnics themselves, trying to rebuild in secret. Something about the way these people and the Titan interacted intrigued him.

 

He’d visited many docks before. There was a mechanical quality to the labour that happened in them. Everyone knew their part, their role, where they belonged, and their specifically designated tasks. If you watched the same spot idly for ten minutes whilst you’re older brother extorted protection racket money out of the foreman, you’d see the same faces moving back and forth, carrying armfuls of steel, or lengths of rope, or a welding iron. Workers did one job. Except they didn’t here at Titan Clydebank. Here there was a chaotic mix – one minute someone was welding, and the next they were operating heavy machinery, or oiling joints, or carrying steel girders with two others across the warehouse floor. Despite this, work seemed to get done. No one got in anyone else’s way like Genji expected. He even found himself vaguely caught up in their work, wondering how they’d accomplish the next tasks they set themselves. Even the people who were primarily in charge of cleaning or the kitchen, seemed to change up their work and stop to eat with all the others.

 

That evening Genji found himself an enormous stray cylinder in the dockyard to rest inside for the night. He would have preferred a charging point, but he had enough juice to keep him going at least a few more days. He’d kept his channel open as the commander had requested, but only now sent a signal to start his report. His spine curled with shape of the cylinder and he found himself staring at the versatile plating on his robotic legs above him as he waited for his comms to respond. He ran his real fingers along the alien metal and faux muscle shapes in the padding. Despite feeling a stranger in his own body, he could never bring himself to truly hate his prosthetics. The greatest freedom of all was to walk again, to live again, to breathe again. In the hours he’d lain, watching his blood ebb away, he had been so sure he was dead. He knew he must have looked dead, or else Hanzo wouldn’t have left him. In those long terrifying moments, he’d been unable to move, unable to feel, unable to scream. He’d known then that even if he somehow lived through this, he’d never walk again. He ran his hand over the powerful legs he now had. He might hate what he’d become, but he’d never regret it. He’d never for a second have made any other choice.

 

“Genji.” The commander’s voice interrupted his reverie, “Talk to me.”

 

“The shipyard is up and running as you suspected commander, but it’s not a commercial operation, or an Omnic one. Seems to be a small group of humans. Looks harmless to me.”

 

“And the Titan?”

 

Genji hesitated. He wasn’t sure why. He supposed he wanted to be certain before tossing around accusations that would uproot people’s lives. In his youth he’d assumed lots of stigma around Omnics had passed, but in the last few months he’d seen more than in the rest of his life put together. That was to be expected given his circumstance, he supposed, but now he was wondering what else he might have missed given his privileged upbringing.

 

“Might all be a misunderstanding, Commander. The word ‘titan’ is historically associated with here. Used to be the name of a crane from a hundred years ago. Like you said though, you can’t be too sure with docks this size, so I want to keep up surveillance for a while longer.”

 

“Uh huh.” Reyes sounded sceptical, “Don’t take too long though. I know I said I’d let you out the house, but I’m not sure how long Dr Ziegler can keep herself from telling Jack about your absence. Best if you were back home before that goes down.”

 

Genji slid further down his cylinder wall and let his legs stretch higher up the other side. He admired the way their soft red light lit up the tunnel.

 

“I’m not in a big hurry to come back, Commander.”

 

“That’s what I thought,” Reyes grated, “But remember we have limited jurisdiction in the UK, so-”

 

“By limited, you mean none, right?”

 

“Right. So don’t drag this out any more than it needs. I’ll find you something else to do once you’re back here. We can parade you in front of Dr Ziegler and Jack once your back, then I’ll pack you off somewhere else nice ‘n’ quiet.”

 

“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

 

“Well, in your position I’d be thinking long and hard about not comin’ back at all. So this is me saying, come in soon and I’ll make it worth your while, okay?”

 

So the commander was worried Genji would run out on him. Truthfully, Genji had never really considered that an option. Where would he go? Who would have him? He’d probably be dismantled for spare parts within a day if he was left on his own and wandered into a bad area.

 

“I’ll hold you to that, Commander.”

 

“Good. Keep me updated. Not just on the mission. Let me know if you have any trouble. I want to hear about malfunctioning machinery and you not eating.”

 

“I am eating, Commander.”

 

“You better be or I’ll come shove those protein soup packs down your throat myself.”

 

Genji smiled under his mask and from the safety of his hideaway,

 

“I know you would, Commander.”

 

“Right. Now get some rest and don’t leave me hanging twelve hours for a report next time or I’ll think you’ve died on me a third time.” The commander cut the line.

 

Genji sighed. He folded his arms over his chest. It was nice having someone who worried over him. His mother had always worried over him, but in a different kind of way. She’d always stepped in whenever the family had wanted a stern word with him and always taken his side. She’d always tell them to go easy on him, to understand he was still young, to give him some slack, to explain he wasn’t the same as his brother. Reyes would never stand for anything like that. He expected orders to be obeyed and stood for no crap at all. The first few times Genji had met him as the reconstructive surgery was underway, he’d spent many hours privately hoping he’d be assigned to the much more amiable looking Overwatch rather than to the tyrannical command of the imposing Gabriel Reyes. But he wouldn’t have had it any other way now. It took a while to understand, but after the initial few weeks when he realised that this was a man who did not budge an inch from his own stubborn hierarchical leadership style, he’d come to realise that this was a man who considered the survival and wellbeing of every single person under him to be his topmost priority at any and every hour of the day. There was a kind of safety that he felt under Reyes’ watch that he realised he’d never felt at home. What happened to him had always felt a little incidental in his old life. What he did didn’t really matter. People spend most of their time trying to stop him doing things that would bring too much shame on the family. He’d gotten the impression that if he sat very still in one room, everyone would have been much happier with him. _Or if I was dead._ The pieces all fitted together really. The problem was that a stubborn, reckless part of him had always felt caged by that strangling hold his family wanted on him. The more they tried to cage him, the more he wanted to push those boundaries, to toe that line. He’d seen similar frustrations in his brother every now and again – the moments when Hanzo’s lip would twitch when he came to drag Genji home from whatever misdemeanours he’d got himself into. Stray fleeting fractions of cold jealousy would flit over Hanzo’s face before they were schooled again. They weren’t so different from one another. It was just that Hanzo had more control. He curbed his desires to break free of the fine traditional line they were expected to walk. Or so Genji had thought. He wondered more and more these days if he’d every really known Hanzo at all.

 

He let his thoughts slip into a sullen silence. Goosepimples ran up his arm. He looked at it. He felt strangely disconnected from it. The rest of him didn’t feel cold, or damp, or pain. Just these fleshy human remnants. He shook his head and closed his eyes. He wondered if Hanzo was avoiding him at the watchpoint. Maybe he was secretly keeping an eye out. The commander had told Genji that Hanzo had been interested to hear how Genji survived. Perhaps Hanzo was peering into strangers’ faces, expecting to see the miracle of his brother alive and well. Genji curled his body around his cold exposed flesh, letting the faint warmth from his LED lights give him some relief. He wished he hadn’t discarded the serape he’d worn yesterday so quickly.

 

***

 

He spent the next day observing from the rafters. He only remembered to take his ration pack when all the workers sat down for a mid-morning meal. The person he’d followed yesterday, Lin, seemed frustrated as everyone slumped around the table in the corner.

 

“We ate in here yesterday,” They said, struggling to keep the exasperation from their voice.

 

“It’s blowin’ a fuckin’ gale, Lin.”

 

“It’s calmed down. Are we doing this or not, because Theia’s out there on her own sixty percent of the time. So if you folks can’t get off your arses for one meal-”

 

“Alright! Chill it. I’ll take me ham sandwich out into the blizzard.”

 

“Okay, blizzard is pushing it, Suzie. It’s not that-”

 

“Did I say I was going? I’m going, so hows about laying off aye?” The thin girl, Suzie, lit a cigarette and picked up a package wrapped in cling film, “Yous coming or what?” The cigarette waggled as she spoke. The others sighed and there was a scrape of chairs.

 

Genji followed at a discreet distance. They went out onto the concrete plinth and sat in the shadow of the enormous Titan crane. There was a strong buffeting wind and an overcast sky, but it was warmer out than it had been yesterday, and dry at least. They poured each other coffee, and exchanged jokes, occasionally throwing lines to the machine behind them. The machine answered once or twice, but seemed less talkative than yesterday. Genji emptied his ration pack into one of his connecting tubes as he listened. He found it easier to sit and enjoy the company of these people than he did back at the canteen at Gibraltar. Of course he wasn’t really in their company, since he was seated on the roof of the warehouse, but then, he’d never really been in the company of those at the watchpoint canteen either. The watchpoint felt like what Genji imagined the army to feel like. It was staffed with ex-military personnel, and those who weren’t ex-military, like him and Jesse, were Blackwatch agents who were treated more as anomalies than true operatives. Sitting here in the dockyard was much more Genji’s scene – laid back people who did what they wished whenever they wished, and did what they did because they wanted to, and not because anyone told them to. He’d seen a fair share of that more anarchic approach in his old life though, and it wasn’t that that captivated him. By mid-afternoon on that second day of observation, he realised what really intrigued him was the way that they treated Theia. Theia the crane. Theia the Titan. Theia the Omnic.

 

Genji didn’t identify as an Omnic, but it was hard not to feel hopeful when all day long he was mistreated as one, and then stumbled upon a group of people treating one as an equal. He’d heard tell of pockets of people like this – who went out of their way to try and reconcile themselves to Omnic kind. He recalled half-listening to lessons where he’d been taught of peace movements that persisted even through the Omnic Crisis. In the aftermath of the Crisis and the devastation left in its wake, much of the momentum for such groups faded. He found himself wondering how many more out there there might be. He wondered if there were even others who straddled the confused place in between.

 

That evening he curled up in his dockyard cylinder and gave another cagey report full of holes and vaguely intimating that perhaps there was more Omnic presence than he first assumed. He knew the commander could read into his hesitations, but felt sure that he would see them just as Genji stalling because he didn’t want to come home. Let him think that for now, Genji thought. Besides, it was true, just on a number of fronts. This time he lay trying to puzzle out what kind of group of friends would manage to come together and work to build giant ships out of defunct docks. They had to be friends and not a business, was his thought, just because they didn’t seem organised in anyway that a business would organise. He closed his eyes and pulled up an internal overlay connecting him to the web. He leaned back, browsing various sites for information that might give him clues as to the group’s origin. Perhaps a gang? Or maybe a co-operative?

 

_> A union._

 

Yes, possibly a- He frowned. That thought hadn’t been his own. And his comms were offline. He closed down his browser and sat in silence.

 

> _You’re wondering how I got in?_

 

Genji leapt up in surprise and hit his head on the roof of the cylinder. He nursed his skull whilst looking round wildly.

 

> _You’ve got a wide open firewall. Hotspot with no privacy settings. Bring up_ _your Command Prompt and give yourself some hard programmed protection._

 

Genji continued staring around him.

 

_> I can show you how if you like. Either way, it’s impolite to talk like this, come speak to me somewhere more private if you wish to continue._

 

The voice in his head fell silent. A moment later a line of white text flashed across his vision.

 

\--- _You have been invited to private chatroom ClydebankIWW [23:47]_

 

\--- _Currently one (1) other user_ _(s)_ _in chatroom: Users: @Goddess-Theia (Admin)_

 

\--- _Enter chatroom? (Y/N)_

 

Genji could feel his heartbeat racing. He felt invaded, afraid, naked, but also tipped with a thrill of daredevil excitement that he hadn’t felt since before the incident.

 

\--- _Welcome @cyborgninja2040 (guest)_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [23:49]: Cyborg ninja? Really? How old are you?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [23:49]: Oh wait. Let me guess. 25. What is with humans and always putting their date of manufacture on their handle?_

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [23:50]: not human._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [23:50]: can’t u read?_

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [23:50]: cyborg ninja_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [23:5_ _1_ _]:_ _so r u that fuck off massive crane next 2 the river?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [23:51]: Are you that tiny spy who’s been hiding in the warehouse for the last two days?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [23:53]: Not so wise-cracking now, are you. Maybe next time you do some stealth ‘ninjaing’ you should make yourself digitally silent as well as physically silent, genius._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [23:5_ _5_ _]:_ _digitally silent?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [23:56]: You’ve been shouting through your hardware like your CPUs on fire. Who put you together? Did they know anything about cyber security? It’s a wonder you haven’t been hacked already._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [23:5_ _7_ _]:_ _ok. I will get someone_ _2_ _look in2 that_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [23:5_ _8_ _]:_ _so_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [23:5_ _8_ _]:_ _r u an omnci or what?_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [23:5_ _9_ _]: *_ _omnic_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:00]: Yes I’m a Titan class Omnic, though there are politer ways to ask. And before you blow a circuit: calm down, I was never retrofitted during the Omnic Crisis. I have and always will be just a shipbuilder._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:01]: I assume that’s why you’re here. To work out if I pose a security threat._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:01_ _]:_ _well yeah_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:01_ _]:_ _kind of a big deal that there’s a titan omnic just lying around_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:02]: I’m not just “lying around”. I’m building ships. Just like I was programmed to. I’m not doing anyone any harm._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _3_ _]:_ _ok. but I still have 2 tell my boss that there is an omnic titan here. he can sort out if its a problem or not._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:04]: I think you and I both know that it’s a foregone conclusion whether a Titan is a problem or not._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _4_ _]:_ _u can tell him what u told me. that u never fought in the war or whatev_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _4_ _]:_ _he’s a fair guy he’ll listen_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:05]: Will he? Even to an Omnic? _

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:05]: You’re only recently a cyborg, aren’t you. Not yet used to the different way that you’re treated._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _5_ _]:_ _dnt no what ur talking about_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:06]: We’re different. And to them we will always be different. It doesn’t matter that I was never retrofitted into a war machine. To them the word ‘titan’ is synonymous with war. They will take me apart because I represent what they fear._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _7_ _]:_ _dude. chill. its not as bad as all that. my boss isnt a bad guy. if I let him know ur just buildn ships he’ll listen to me._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:08]: Tell me, out of interest, did you boss ever serve during the Omnic Crisis?_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _8_ _]:_ _I mean probably. he’s like 1million yrs old and an ex-soldier or something_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:0_ _8_ _]:_ _doesnt mean he’s going to just shotgun every machine in sight tho_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:09]: Doesn’t it? _

 

Genji sat in silence. The last line of text floated white and taunting over his vision. Commander Reyes did have a shoot-first-ask-questions-later reputation. He trusted the commander with his life, but that didn’t make the question in front of him any easier to answer. He could feel his eyes aching and his limbs tired with cold. It was too late at night for thinking like this. After a while he started the conversation back up again.

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:_ _16_ _]:_ _u still there?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:16]: Yes._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:_ _16]:_ _u goin 2 tell ur pals about me spying on them?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:17]: Probably, yes._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:17]: Are you going to tell your boss about me?_

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:_ _18_ _]:_ _probably yeah_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:20]: Then my fate rests in your hands, cyborgninja2040._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:_ _21_ _]:_ _I guess._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:_ _21_ _]:_ _well. I got to get some rest._

 

 _> cyborgninja2040 [_ _00:_ _22_ _]:_ _thanks for the heads up about the security thing. I’ll get it fixed. I hope all omnics I have to talk to r as nice as u_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [00:22]: No problem. I hope the organisation you represent is as reasonable as you are._

 

\--- _@cyborgninja2040 (guest)_ _has left_ _chatroom ClydebankIWW [_ _00:23_ _]_


	6. Cares That Tear Us Apart

Two days later Genji was standing in Commander Reyes office trying to persuade him to be as reasonable as Genji had made him out to be to the Titan.

 

“If your report’s concluded, take yourself down to the clinic, Doctor Ziegler is waiting for you.”

 

“It’s not concluded, Commander.” The fists on both Genji’s human and mechanical arms tightened in unison. “It’s not concluded because you’re not listening to me about this Titan being harmless!”

 

“Harmless.” Reyes said with derision, “And how do you know that exactly?”

 

“It- she… told me!”

 

“The machine told you it was harmless, so it’s harmless?”

 

Genji hesitated. It did sound foolish when the commander put it like that. He wished he could be having this conversation in Japanese, then he’d really let the commander have a piece of his mind.

 

“I suppose you’d only believe it to be dangerous if it confessed to being a violent murdering war machine?” Reyes crossed his arms and fixed Genji with one of his famous unimpressed stares.

 

“Commander, it’s not like that. I watched the humans and the Titan. They’re not violent people, they’re just building boats.”

 

“Boats now, what next perhaps? Hand that printout of your conversation back again.”

 

Genji reluctantly ceded the record of his chatroom backlog with the Titan. Reyes leaned over it. He pulled a red pen out of his pocket and circled something on the sheet. He beckoned Genji over with a finger. Genji dragged his heels as he walked, feeling like he was somehow back at school.

 

“See this?” Reyes had circled the chatroom name _ClydebankIWW._ Genji nodded reluctantly. “Know what IWW stands for? International Workers of the World. They’re revolutionaries. Anarchists. Troublemakers.”

 

“They didn’t look like troublemakers to me,” Genji said sullenly, though his confidence was waning.

 

“And what the fuck is this?” Reyes triple underlined Genji’s online handle, “Just hand out personal information about yourself to any old person why don’t you? That machine’s got your date of birth, and you on record claiming to be a cyborg. And a fucking ninja!”

 

Genji shifted his weight from foot to foot,

 

“It’s just a name, Commander, no one pays attention to those.”

 

“Oh yeah? Well this one sure did!” He circled the opening dialogue from the Titan.

 

“Look I didn’t know you were going to go back through all this judging me over it. If I’d known that I would have-”

 

“Would have what?!” Reyes eyes were hard and fierce. Genji was beginning to understand why the rest of the watchpoint took great pains to stay on the commander’s good side. “Acted with a little professionalism?! When I took you on here, you claimed to have experience with stealth and observation. What about _this_ speaks _stealth and observation_ , Genji?”

 

“That was not my fault! I was being stealthy! I just didn’t know anything about all the stupid computer bits you put in me! It’s your fault for sending me out there not fully upgraded and protected-”

 

“Oh, it’s my fault now?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“And is it my fault you leaked data about yourself to an Omnic Titan? Or my fault that your hippie friends are dabbling with highly illegal Omnic tech?”

 

“So they’re hippies when you want to demean them, but violent revolutionaries when you want an excuse to go blow them up?”

 

The commander stood and Genji immediately backed away. Reyes was a lot bigger, and there was a look in his eye Genji hadn’t seen before.

 

“W-what are you going to do!?” Genji could feel anxiety pooling in his stomach. He backed away further. “Send me out there-?” Genji indicated wildly toward the office door, “To let my brother finish me off?”

 

Reyes’ expression smoothed over into blankness, but Genji could still feel the anger radiating from him.

 

“Go to your room.” Reyes said calmly.

 

Genji glared at him, then stormed out the door. It slammed behind him.

 

Reyes kicked the corner of the sofa hard. He raked his hand through his hair, then rubbed his eyes with two fingers. He paced up and down the room, swearing softly to himself. A knock sounded on his door, and that made him swear again. He pulled it open with too much force.

 

“ _What?_ ” He said savagely.

 

Jack was standing in front of him, bright expression fading before Reyes’ temper.

 

“Not now, Jack.” Reyes snapped, “I’m angry and tired and frustrated and if you stand there I’m going to end up taking that out on you because I suck keeping my temper when you’re around. So clear off and come back some other time.” He turned around but left the door open. He stalked to the far end of the room and glared through a small window that looked out over a wild bay and a grey sky. He was irritated to hear Jack’s steps follow him into the room.

 

“Let’s take a walk together.” Jack said gently.

 

“Yeah fucking brilliant weather for it. Great idea, Jackie.” Reyes eyes didn’t leave the bleak picture of windswept chill flushing sprays of rain across the landscape.

 

“Come on.” Jack took his hand.

 

Reyes shook his hand free of Jack’s but followed him outside nonetheless.

 

The fresh sea air did make him feel better, despite the snap of the wind and wet that soon clung to his clothes. He and Jack walked in silence, taking a small path away from the watchpoint and toward the cliff edge.

 

Reyes watched the grey sea fold into long lines of waves that crinkled as they pushed close to the coast. Heavy clouds hung low over the spray and pulled the sky a grim colourless tent of monochrome.

 

“You try and stick your neck out for these people and they still try to make you out to be the bad guy,” Reyes said out loud to the cliffs.

 

Jack stayed quiet next to him, matching his pace. They continued walking. The path bent and followed the cliff edge, a sheer drop below giving way to angular white limestone boulders.

 

“They don’t know the energy I expend fighting with you on their behalf. They just shove it back in my face.”

 

“Genji Shimada?” Jack asked.

 

Reyes gave a jerk of his head in affirmation.

 

“He’s a troubled young man,” Jack said carefully, “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t think the world of you. They all do. All of Blackwatch.”

 

Jack regretted saying the word Blackwatch. Immediately Reyes face clouded over, and they were both reminded that Reyes had been given that command after he was stripped of his previous position that was summarily handed to his second-in-command. Jack silently berated himself. He took a deep breath,

 

“I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but, I still look to you for all the ways to improve my own command. The way you have patience at the right moment with the right people, the things you judge important, the way you keep a balance between the broader direction of the job at hand and the operatives in front of you who need that human face looking out for them. Hell, the worst thing about taking this job was losing that place under your protection all your subordinates get. Nothing felt safer than knowing Gabriel Reyes would take up your case and hash it out on your behalf with some bigwig.”

 

They had stopped walking, and now looked out over the wild sea. A fresh gust of spray blew in Jack’s face and he squinted salt out of his eyes. His heart fell again as Reyes remained silent. Jack passed a tongue over his lips and tasted salt there too.

 

“I’m sorry to always bring things back to you and me. I know this was about Genji Shimada. It’s just I feel every interaction we have is overshadowed by that. And I just want you to know that even though I’m not ever going to resign as Strike Commander, that doesn’t mean I’m not deeply, deeply sorry for hurting you. Am I talking to much? You always said I talk to much.” Jack slipped into an uneasy quiet.

 

“What do you want, Jack?” Gabriel sounded tired.

 

Jack jumped on the question,

 

“Just to be able to talk to you again, without you hating me. Just to be able to ask for your advice and for it not to be weird. Just to be your friend again. It’s so lonely all the time. I am, I mean. That is… I mean I have Ana to talk to and she’s a real help, and the others too. But I need you. For advice I mean. Well not just that. But you understand… It’s not the same. I know it won’t ever be the same again – and I mean I’m not saying that I’d want it to be exactly the same as before even – unless you did too of course – but that’s a different thing entirely – oh fuck I’m digging this hole deeper.” Jack turned to Gabriel in desperation.

 

A ghost of a smile was on Gabriel’s lips. Jack’s insides nearly collapsed with relief.

 

“I’ve never been good at saying the right thing to you,” Jack said hopelessly.

 

“You’ve never been good at bullshitting me, you mean.” Gabriel corrected.

 

“That too,” Jack muttered. His nose and cheeks were red, but that might have been from the cold, Gabriel reasoned. He hoped it was from the cold. Jack looked up and fixed Gabriel with honest, miserable blue eyes that wrenched Gabriel’s heart. “Can we have another go at trying to be civil to each other? Can it be okay for me to just come to you for help without it being about…” Jack trailed off.

 

“I am trying, Jack.” Gabriel said quietly. “I just find it difficult.”

 

“I-I’ve been thinking about that.” Jack smiled, eager to keep the conversation going now that he had Gabriel talking, “And the thing is – Blackwatch and Overwatch are basically different organisations. So it’s less that anyone should answer to anyone else, and more like two separate jurisdictions. So you should run Blackwatch however you wish, and we should just keep each other informed of the others operations.”

 

“Like for example, if one of us were to hire an ex-Yakuza boss who attempted to murder one of our operatives?”

 

Jack’s smile faded,

 

“Y… yes. That would be an example of something we should definitely talk to each other about…”

 

“And what happens when you don’t like how I run Blackwatch, Jack?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I like it? You’re a more experienced commander than me. I trust you. You’ll make the decisions you need to make to do a good job. You always have.”

 

“And what if it’s not by the book?”

 

“Not… by the book…?” Jack’s face was a strained half way point, still trying to meet Gabriel on his own terms, “We all occasionally do things that aren’t quite by the book, Gabe.”

 

“Well, what if I told you that Genji Shimada had just come back from a spying operation in Scotland.”

 

Jack’s face worked to try and keep its optimism, but this eventually dropped into anxious concern,

 

“Scotland… in the UK… you mean?”

 

“The one and only.” Reyes seemed remarkably calm, as if this was an expected turn for the conversation to take. Jack tried to prove him wrong by keeping his expression calm.

 

“We uh… don’t have and legal jurisdiction to operate in the UK, Gabe.”

 

“I know. But I had a lead. So I followed it up.”

 

Jack bit his lip. He could see the hours of angry phonecalls and the privileges Overwatch would have revoked across the globe if it got out that they were breaching national sovereignty.

 

“Still keen for me to run Blackwatch however I wish, Jackie?” Reyes tilted his head.

 

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it again.

 

“That’s what I thought.” Reyes turned and walked away. Jack hurried to catch him up.

 

“Gabe, wait!” He matched Reyes pace, “There are some things it would be good to talk about – like whether the risk of operating in the UK and what they’ll do to us if they find out, is worth following up whatever lead you have. A-and it might well be that you’re right-” Reyes was speeding up, making it difficult for Jack to keep pace and think of the right words to say, “But that’s a decision that affects Overwatch too – because we’ll be in deep shit if someone finds out. So that’s an example of something it might be good for you and I to talk over.”

 

“You mean for you to say no to. Since you have the final say on all Overwatch _and_ Blackwatch operations.”

 

“Gabe, _please._ ”

 

“No matter how many _Gabe pleases_ you throw at me, Jack, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re legally entitled to stick your nose in my business and pull the plug on anything I’m trying to get done. You can try and make that as pretty sounding as you like, but at the end of the day you’re still going to come whining about the methods I use regardless of the results I get.”

 

Jack could feel the situation slipping away from him. He had a distinct feeling that if he didn’t rescue this right now, he would lose Gabriel forever.

 

“Results you get?” He had to take a double step to keep up with Gabriel. “So what were the results. Did Genji bring anything interesting back from Scotland?”

 

“ _Please._ As if that’s what you care about right now.”

 

Jack grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. He turned Gabriel to face him. For a second Jack thought Gabriel might hit him, but instead the usual bored frustration fell over his face.

 

“You said you were trying.” Jack said earnestly, searching in his old friend’s eyes. “Then try for me, Gabe. Give me something here.”

 

Gabriel thought back to Moira’s advice in the bar, and to his own irritation at himself whenever he played moments like these wrong. He drew in a long breath, held it and counted to three. Then he let it out again slowly.

 

“Genji followed up a lead on rumours of a Titan operating in Glasgow.”

 

Jack’s eyes widened,

 

“And?” He asked.

 

“And there’s a Titan operating in Glasgow.”

 

Jack’s mouth dropped. This information definitely justified a lowkey off-the-books snooping mission, regardless of their legal situation. Overwatch would be in more far more shit if a rogue Titan model was loose in the UK than it would over the dubious legality of spying there.

 

“Gabe… I didn’t know.”

 

“Didn’t ask either. Just assumed my judgement was poor.”

 

Jack’s face registered guilt and hurt, but that didn’t make Gabriel feel any better.

 

“Anyway. I have the location, and a record of a conversation Genji had with it. And some details on the cell it’s a part of.”

 

“It’s part of a cell?” Jack said, a little hoarsely.

 

“A human cell, but worth looking into all the same. I’ll get a report typed up for Overwatch and pass it over, provided you don’t mind reports that come from illegal information sources.”

 

“No, that sounds good.” Jack looked at the ground. He felt small, and like he’d just stumbled over a mile’s worth of fences and still wound up face down in some mud. The brimming self-confidence he painted on each day had run its course, and he found himself hoping Gabriel would just walk away now. Gabriel was good at walking away. And Jack needed some time to pull himself back upright and stand tall again. Talking to Gabriel inevitably left him feeling worthless or guilty or a mixture of the two. It was time to retreat before all those old doubts about his own capability became too obvious.

 

Gabriel didn’t leave. He stayed looking at Jack. Jack sincerely hoped there wasn’t more derision and accusation to come. Ana was always telling him to let a conversation with Gabriel go before it wore Jack down to the marrow. But Jack wasn’t good at letting things go. Or at walking a way. Or at anything much when it came to Gabriel Reyes.

 

A finger lifted his chin. Jack let Gabriel raise his face until their eyes met. The contact made Jack feel even weaker. He didn’t want Gabriel to know how much that could still affect him.

 

“I should go.” Jack said. “Paperwork to write et cetera.”

 

Gabriel didn’t move his finger. Jack didn’t move either. There was always something transfixing about those dark deep eyes.

 

“You try too hard, Jackie.”

 

Jack’s lips were a dry.

 

“Learned from the best,” He said weakly, “Here you are. Trying too hard for Genji Shimada. Things we’re willing to do for people we care about, huh?” Then he blushed and stepped away from the proximity that was doing things to his insides. He gave a vague nod, then hurried away quickly and didn’t look back.

 

***

 

Genji sat in the corner of his room recharging his electronics. He hadn’t meant to get angry at the commander. In fact, he’d meant to come home and thank him for getting him off base, for giving him space and independence, for not breathing down his neck or fussing when Genji took the mission a little off piste. He wasn’t sure where that had all gone, but he was sure the commander saw him now as the spoilt rich child he was. More than anything Genji had wanted to repay the trust that had been put in him. Perhaps it was just his lot in life to go around disappointing authority figures. He stretched back on his bed and sighed. His eyes strayed to the locker in the corner, and suddenly his room felt too small. He wanted to take himself off to the Blackwatch commonroom, but wasn’t sure how serious the commander had been when he consigned Genji to his quarters. Genji was about eighty percent sure he’d mostly said that to point out how childish Genji was being. But twenty percent of him was ready to believe that commander expected to find him here until summoned to give an account of himself. He gave a huff, wrapped his arms around him, and rolled over to face the wall.

 

He recalled the last time he’d been sent to his quarters at the Shimada Castle. He’d lain on his futon, looking up at the wooden ceiling, hemmed in on all sides by intricately painted paper walls that only increased his feeling of suffocation. If he listened hard he could here the life of the castle through that paper thin privacy. Footsteps shuffling on wooden floors, pans moving in a kitchen, water boiling over a fire that occasionally snapped and crackled, the rustle of fabric, wind tapping on the window shutters. Everything was overpoweringly close.

 

His mother had come in to try and persuade him to be apologetic. She’d asked him to wear traditional robes when he was summoned before the family. She’d asked him just for one afternoon to try and do everything they wanted and be a model Shimada. She’d asked him if just for one afternoon he could take a leaf out of Hanzo’s book and be, well, a little more like Hanzo. Genji huffed louder at the wall, like he had back then.

 

“Be more like Hanzo.” He glowered at the wall. He rolled his eyes. “Be better at being a no-chill uptight mobster instead of enjoying yourself on the town, Genji. Why can’t you be normal, Genji? How was _I_ not the normal one? Urgh. Anyway what the fuck, Commander, they were building boats. Don’t you have actual bad guys to catch? Why does everyone have to go lay into the people who just want to have a life. You know, a life without criminal enterprising or secret military operations. Why do people have to go blow everything out of proportion?”

 

“Genji Shimada, can I hear you mutterin’ in there to yourself?”

 

“Piss off, McCree.” Genji called.

 

Jesse let himself into Genji’s room and shut the door behind him.

 

“Wow. Getting a strong whiff of angst in this room. You sulkin’ again?”

 

Genji dragged himself upright and sat staring at daggers at Jesse.

 

“The door was closed for a reason.”

 

“Uh huh. To keep your psycho brother out, not your bestest friend in the whole wide world.”

 

“Urgh. Shut up. I’m hungry. Did Doctor Ziegler send you with my food?”

 

“That is an exceedingly rude presumption, but yes, she did.” Jesse tossed Genji a ration pack. “So-oh, apparently you royally pissed off the boss.”

 

Genji glowered as he unscrewed the cap of the ration pack.

 

“He pissed _me_ off.” Genji muttered.

 

“Uh huh, I getcha.” McCree invited himself to sit on the foot of Genji’s bed, “You sent him to his room too, am I right?”

 

Genji gave him a half-hearted kick and McCree feigned pain,

 

“Ooh ouch. The temper on this guy. Hey, Genji,” McCree swivelled on the bed and pulled his legs up and crossed them, “I reckon I saw your brother.”

 

Genji was suddenly attentive.

 

“You did?”

 

“Real cagey, dodgin’ everyone, kinda cute lookin’ apart from this death stare he’s wearin’ like he wants to turn your insides outside. Oh and Japanese. Actually that was kinda the give away. That ’n’ he’s got your eyes, minus the uh y’know-” McCree waved a figure before his eyes, “Glowy thing you got goin’ there.”

 

“Cute. _Really_?”

 

“His suit is hella sharp too. Oh don’t get me wrong. I’m on your side all the way here. Only reason I haven’t personally murdered him is because the boss said he’d personally murder me in return (no offence but he’s scarier than my sense of duty to you, pal). Anyway if anyone’s gonna murder him it’ll be the boss – did you hear he kept your brother in interrogation all night – no food no water no nothing. What a fuckin’ idol. I mean he’s terrifyin’ but seriously – goals right there.”

 

Genji drew his knees up to his chest.

 

“… He did?”

 

“Not even a pisshole in that room. I remember, ‘cause the boss had me in there for a fair while when I first got here. I woulda been about seventeen at the time, yeah – hm – the boss could maybe work on his people skills. In fairness to him I guess I was a deadbeat on my way to the lockup with a real attitude on me. Hm.”

 

Genji could feel prickles of guilt niggling at him.

 

“Do you think I should go apologise to him?”

 

McCree tipped his hat to the back of his head,

 

“To the boss? I don’t even know what the argument was about, so don’t go askin’ me. Although, in general, I’ll always be saying nope.”

 

“No?”

 

“On account o’ how if you piss off the boss he needs a cool down period ‘cause he’s got a nasty temper on him.”

 

“Oh.” Genji rested his chin on his knees. He’d emptied the ration pack into his system and was gradually feeling less grouchy and frustrated. “How long should I wait?” McCree shrugged. Genji frowned in thought, then turned the conversation back to the sighting of his brother. “So… you said you saw Hanzo. Did he seem… I don’t know. How did he seem?”

 

“If you’re askin’ if he seemed cut up ‘n’ all and regrettin’ taking his brother’s life...”

 

Genji’s face fell.

 

Jesse was quick to catch himself up,

 

“But what do I know huh? Guy seemed like a brick wall to me, but sometimes _you’re_ like that and you’re blowin’ a gale inside, so I reckon it’s a family business – you folks keepin’ all your feelings stacked higher than picket fence in a suburban garden.”

 

Genji nodded slowly. That was probably true.

 

“Did he say anything? Was he looking for me? Mention me?”

 

“Didn’t say nothin’ at all. In fact kinda seemed affronted I’d walked into the same room as him. Like he owned the place ‘n’ I was trespassin’. Which is mighty rude given _I’m_ an em-ploy-ee here and he’s some vagrant no-good brother-killin’ jumped-up…”

 

Genji smiled. His face was hidden beneath his mask, but Jesse could still see the light touch his friend’s eyes.

 

“He always walks around like that,” Genji said.

 

“Like he’s got a stick up his ass?”

 

“Imperious. Cold. Aloof. It’s to keep people from getting too close to him. He thinks the world is more manageable at arm’s length. So that’s where he keeps everybody.”

 

“Sounds like a real charmer.”

 

“Stay away from him.” Genji folded his hands under his chin and stared at the far wall, “He’s only good at hurting people.”


	7. The Hanamura Mission

Hanzo sat in the Strike Commander’s office, legs crossed, one toe tapping in the air impatiently.

 

“I’m merely giving you advice, Strike Commander. That _is_ what I’m here to do.”

 

Jack strode back and forth the length of his office, his blue uniform coat fanning out behind him as he walked. He had a pensive finger to his mouth and his brow was fraught with worry.

 

“Commander Reyes won’t like it.”

 

“ _I_ don’t like it.” Hanzo said without emotion, “But that is my council given the resources you have available to you.”

 

“Commander Reyes _really_ won’t like it.” Jack said with added emphasis.

 

“And maybe with good reason, Jack.” Ana Amari was seated next to Hanzo, still sipping at the tea all three of them had been sharing until Hanzo’s proposal sent Jack into a flurry.

 

“Yes, yes of course with good reason. But that doesn’t make any of this any easier. If I even tried to raise this with him, he would…” Jack trailed off and his mind wandered unbidden to that finger lifting his chin, gentle, firm, comforting… He shook his head.

 

“It’s true he seemed particularly protective on my brother’s account.” Hanzo stirred his tea with a teaspoon but didn’t drink it. The water had been put in too hot and had scalded the leaves, making them bitter. “Perhaps you should discuss the matter with him and come to some arrangement about the best way to proceed. I’m not saying the situation _requires_ Genji’s presence. Merely that if it’s true he remains…” Hanzo searched for a word. He’d left Genji a bloody mess on the floor. Things were unattached. There had been so much blood. He still couldn’t believe these people had really managed to put him back together. There had to be some kind of mistake. No one could come back from that. Or from doing that. “… intact, then his knowledge of the local area could be invaluable. He misspent nearly all the years of his youth in the seedier parts of Hanamura.”

 

Jack half sat on the edge of his desk,

 

“And let me get this again, you think – you… and he… are our best chances…”

 

“At finding the criminals responsible for reselling the armaments my clan had collected during the Omnic Crisis. That is correct, Strike Commander.”

 

“Fuck.” Jack said, and started pacing again.

 

“Jack,” Ana said a little reproachfully. He looked at her, and she gave a surreptitious nod toward their guest. Jack covered his face with a hand again. “What the Strike Commander _means,_ ” Ana gave a forced smile at Hanzo, “Is thank you very much, Mr Shimada, for your information, and that we’ll have to have a consultation on how best to proceed on this intelligence.”

 

Hanzo tilted his head in assent.

 

“Yes, what Captain Amari said. I apologise for my unprofessionalism, Mr Shimada. It’s been a long week. Thank you for being so patient with us, especially after the trouble we put you through.” The trouble _Reyes_ put you through, was in everyone’s mind, but it was left unsaid. “It’s probably best if we adjourn this meeting. I’ll get back to you on how we’re going to take this forward. Are your quarters alright? Anything we can get you?”

 

“Better tea perhaps?” Ana said mildly. Jack gave her a look.

 

“No. Thank you. All is in order.” Hanzo stood and gave them a curt bow.

 

Jack waited until the door shut behind Hanzo, then whirled to Ana,

 

“ _Better tea?_ Really? Ana, if this guy wants to he can give us a law suit five miles long, can we please lay off antagonising him?”

 

Ana set down her empty teacup and folded her arms,

 

“You weren’t a picture of propriety yourself, Jack. These days someone only has to mention Gabriel’s name and you-”

 

“I just patched things up with him. Possibly. I can’t tell because he’s – you know – he’s Gabe. But the point is: what Hanzo’s suggesting is not fair on Gabe, not fair on Genji-”

 

“Then don’t agree to it, Jack.”

 

“And the best plan we have.”

 

Ana gave him a disapproving look. She stood, brushed down her jacket and fixed her cap.

 

“You can have the best plan in the world, Jack, but if you can’t keep your team together then what’s it worth?”

 

“You think I should ditch the idea? Just give Hanzo our next best?”

 

Ana took a deep breath,

 

“I think if you’re serious about wanting Gabriel’s opinion, you’ll stop worrying about him getting mad at you and go and give him the information you have and leave the matter in his hands.”

 

“But this is an Overwatch operation.” Jack said a little petulantly.

 

“Now you sound like Gabriel.”

 

Jack glowered at her.

 

“Look,” Ana took Jack by the elbow and steered him into a chair. She folded her arms and stood before him, “The problem you have is weighing up whether to use _his_ operative to maximise the success of a mission. That is _his_ call. Give him all the information you have, let him know what’s at stake, then leave the decision with him. If you want him to trust you again, you need to trust him. And you do that by delegating decisions and abiding by his choices.”

 

Jack let out a huff of air,

 

“I suppose you’re right.”

 

“Of course I’m right. I’m always right. Unless you ask Fareeha, then apparently I’m always wrong.”

 

Jack’s face softened. The watchpoints were a lot quieter now that Ana’s daughter had gone her own path.

 

“Have you heard from her lately?”

 

“No.” Ana placed Hanzo’s abandoned tea on a tray, “She doesn’t listen to me. I told her she could do anything, be anything, but don’t be like her mother. So what does she do? Sneak off and join the army.”

 

“She’s not a child any more,” Jack said gently, “Her decisions are her own to make. And besides, she’s got too much of you in her.”

 

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

 

“You called her recently?”

 

“She’s not answering me. I’m getting the silent treatment.”

 

“Fareeha? Silent?” Jack couldn’t stop himself smiling, disbelief dancing in his eyebrows.

 

“Unlikely, I know.” Ana sighed.

 

“So,” Jack crossed his legs. “How about we deal with each others problems – I’ll phone Fareeha, if you-”

 

“Absolutely not. I am not getting between you and Gabriel again. Go and deal with it, Jack. To mean anything it has to come from you. In fact, I’m taking you to his door right now, in case you hide this in a box somewhere or leave it to memo message.”

 

“What? Ana?! No!”

 

Ana marched Jack through the base all the way to Reyes’s office. She stood with her back to the wall, hidden from the office door, watching him with her eagle eyes as he knocked. He glowered at her, but his temper immediately vanished when the door opened. Ana shook her head and rolled her eyes, then wandered off to go try call her daughter again.

 

Reyes was silent all the way through Jack’s briefing.

 

The briefing was delivered succinctly and professionally, but Reyes could always tell when Jack was hiding his anxieties and worries. The proposal Jack was putting before him filled him with such outrage that he had to keep his expression utterly blank just to sit through it. When Jack finally finished, Reyes kept his voice perfectly even to control his simmering temper.

 

Jack could feel Reyes’ anger palpable in the room despite his old friend’s clear attempt to mask it. He pulled back his shoulders and put on his best patient expression, waiting for the dam to burst.

 

Reyes pulled the file across the coffee table and flicked it open.

 

“What exactly are you proposing is the optimum course of action here? I can see the sense in sending Genji on this mission to act on this intelligence, although even that may be objectionable at this stage. In your…” Reyes waved a hand, trying to find a word that wouldn’t betray his thoughts on this entire idea. He failed in this regard. “In your dream world, what is it exactly you wanted, Hanzo on comms whilst Genji collected intelligence?”

 

Jack gave a fixed smile in the face of the inevitable oncoming storm.

 

“Speaking only of the best scenario for the mission success – which by the way is not the only thing that matters – I’m here so that you can pull this plan apart and put a better one in place…” Jack paused, hoping to see a more reasonable change on Reyes’s face. When he saw Reyes was waiting for him to continue, he took a deep breath, “Well the best team for the mission would be Hanzo and Genji on the ground, meeting Yakuza contacts and mopping up all the Omnic tech on the Blackmarket.”

 

Reyes stood abruptly.

 

Jack had to stop himself from instinctively moving backwards.

 

Reyes stalked to the other end of the room and stopped before a wall. He didn’t turn around.

 

“I know this isn’t an ideal proposal.” Jack said hurriedly, “And a plan where operatives are at each other’s throat is a poor one. All the intelligence in the world isn’t worth it if we don’t have a good team on the ground.” He stole that from Ana. “So I’m asking your professional advice on what I should do, given the info we have.” Reyes still didn’t turn around, and still didn’t speak. It was beginning to unnerve Jack. Jack stood. “You’re angry. As you have every right to be. I know this isn’t what we agreed when Hanzo first arrived here, but I want…” Jack took another deep breath, trying to imagine Ana in the corner of the room egging him on, “I want you to take over this operation. I know it’s technically Overwatch jurisdiction, but as the life of one of Blackwatch’s operatives could be at stake, I think you’re best placed to make decisions about how best to proceed with what we have.” Jack could feel agitation in his chest. He’d been expecting Reyes to shout at him. This silence felt much worse. He felt guilty, despite repeatedly telling himself he had nothing to feel guilty about. Not this time round, at least. “I’ll… just leave the file with you then. I’d… like to be in any meetings you call about this, but I understand if that’s not how you wish to run this. Hanzo is in…” Jack pulled out a pen and scrap paper from his pocket. “Room C17, in the east wing.” He jotted this down, “If you want him.”

 

Jack set down the scrap paper on top of the file. He took a step back towards the doorway,

 

“I’ll just… go.”

 

“Thank-you.”

 

Jack nearly fell over,

 

“Sorry?”

 

Reyes turned around,

 

“Thank-you. For handing this over to me. I don’t like it. And I strongly oppose your suggestion at a best case scenario. But I will see what I can do.”

 

Jack’s heart brimmed. He gave Gabriel a full, bright smile, nodded, then left. Gabriel stood blinking in his wake, simultaneously frustrated with what he now had to deal with, and yet inexplicably warmed.

 

***

 

Genji sat swinging his legs from the hospital bed.

 

“So it’s just the exposed areas where your skin meets the metal?” Angela shifted her hair out of her face, making notes on her datapad as she looked Genji over with an expert eye.

 

“Yes. It itches. And aches. I think the water makes it…” He rotated his cyber shoulder, stretched his cyber arm and clasped his fist tight.

 

“I am working on improvements,” Angela watched his movements, “But I don’t want to rush anything. I’ve consulted Moira, and her ideas to rebuild your digestive and respiratory tract are not impossible. Her ideas need a lot of work however, I’m not a fan of experimental procedures on live subjects. The operation will happen when I know it stands a good chance of being a success and improving your life. It will be another big operation when I do make improvements though, and…” Her words meandered into quiet, which was unusual for the doctor.

 

“And what?” Genji’s red eyes fixed on her.

 

Angela pushed her hair behind her ear again and fiddled with a pen,

 

“Well it’s… It’s not just the physical operation I’m worried about.”

 

Genji’s expression darkened,

 

“What. You think I’m weak?”

 

“No.” Angela said quickly, “It’s a big change. Your body is undergoing an enormous change, Genji. _You_ are undergoing an enormous change. It’s natural to feel… confused about your identity.”

 

“I’m not confused.” Genji said coldly.

 

“Yes you are.” Angela was firm, “And that is fine. We can work through that. But the full upgrades we’re looking at here will involve total encasing of your remaining skin, sealing over exposure to moisture and giving you better protection. And frankly, my medical opinion is that you are not mentally ready for that.”

 

Genji jumped off the bed.

 

“Not _mentally_ ready?” His voice was tipped with danger and there was menace in his step as he approached the doctor.

 

“No.” Said Angela calmly, unphased by the threat before her. “I’m not just here to monitor your physical health, Genji. I’ve seen the way you look at yourself, the way you walk, the way you hide away from contact with others on the watchpoint. The damage you suffered in the incident with your brother was not just physical. And trust me, physical wounds are much quicker to heal than those here,” She touched her head, “And here,” She touched her heart.

 

Genji scoffed and turned away. He folded his arms. He hated talking about these things. The Strike Commander had offered him a psychiatrist when he first arrived and at a number of points over the months as he recovered. Mental health was one of those taboo topics that never reared its head in his family. The shame of admitting to such weaknesses still clung to him like a foul residue he could never quite rid himself of.

 

“I spoke to someone on my last mission.” Genji said abruptly. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe to distract Angela from talking about wounds of the heart, or maybe because this was the closest he’d come to confronting the true face of the reality he now lived with. “She didn’t think of me as a machine.”

 

Genji volunteering information was such a rarity that Angela was slightly at a loss as to how to put him at ease.

 

“Well,” She said gently, “This person was right. You aren’t a machine, Genji.”

 

“Everyone else thinks I am. They made me fly Omnic class on the flight to Ireland.” Angela’s face registered anger and shock, but Genji continued in the same matter-of-fact tone, “People avert their eyes. Or feel uncomfortable. I don’t do the same things as them – simple things like eating, sleeping,… talking,” He added as an afterthought, “And I don’t look the same either. And they are right. I am not the same. I don’t get sick; I malfunction. I don’t get better; I get repaired. If you pull a tube out my back; I stop breathing. If you plug me into the wall; I come to life.”

 

“Genji.” Angela said disapprovingly. Mentally, she was scolding McCree for having divulged that last unorthodox piece of information. Connecting Genji to the mains power had been the quickest way to jumpstart his heart, but it was by no means a conventional method approved by any health and safety standard.

 

“But the person I met in Scotland, she didn’t think I was a machine at all. She called me a human. She likened my behaviour to typical human behaviour. She was amused by my total lack of knowledge when it came to protecting myself from electronic intrusions.” Genji sat himself back down on the hospital bed. He looked at his scarred human hand, turning it over before him and opening and closing his fingers, “Talking to her was the first time I’ve felt like a human since the… since the incident.”

 

“It sounds like talking to this lady was a good thing for you.” Angela said carefully, “Perhaps we can contact her, and you and her can talk again. It may help you.”

 

Genji shook his head. He rested his hands back on the bed and clenched the edge tight.

 

“Can’t. The Commander’s going to have her killed.”

 

Angela blinked.

 

“W-what?”

 

Genji kicked his legs idly again. He fell glumly silent.

 

“I’m sure we can prevent that from happening,” Angela reasoned, “Strike Commander Morrison-”

 

“The Strike Commander will agree to it too. The person who spoke to me was a Titan Class Omnic.”

 

Angela’s mouth opened. No words came to her. She stood there silent, looking at the strange, sad, half-machine, half-man before her. Before she had thought of anything to say the door slid open and Commander Reyes stepped in. Genji jumped off the bed and stood to attention.

 

“Can you give us a moment, Doc.” Reyes said. His eyes were on Genji.

 

“Of course.” Angela grabbed her datapad. It was more a gesture of instinct, she couldn’t actually do any work outside of her clinic. She hurried out the door, unsure what to do with herself.

 

Genji looked at his feet. He moved his metal toes each independently, clacking them off the floor. He could feel the commander’s gaze boring into him. An image flashed into his mind of polished wooden room where he was donning traditional hakama at his mother’s behest. He’d felt awkward then too, and sucked in his breath as he went off to the clan elders to be held to account for his behaviour. Hanzo had always said the only time Genji ever looked respectable was when he was being made to apologise to someone.

 

“Commander.” Genji took a deep breath now and raised his eyes, “I am sorry for my behaviour. I understand the choices you have to make. And I know you have placed yourself at much inconvenience recently on my behalf. The way I spoke to you was a poor show of gratitude. I am sorry.”

 

There was a strange look in the commander’s eye, and for a dreaded moment, Genji thought perhaps he wouldn’t be forgiven, that Reyes would throw him out of Blackwatch, that he’d lose this fraction of family that was holding his two halves together right now. The strange look faded and Reyes gave a curt nod.

 

“I’m sorry the outcome wasn’t what you desired. If it’s any consolation, I’ll be handing the intelligence and the mission follow-up on to Overwatch. Jack always does a thorough job of investigating before he goes in guns blazing. If your friends are innocent of all wrongdoing, then I’m sure Jack will have a commensurate response.”

 

Genji wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but just then all that mattered was that he was on Reyes’ good side again. There was something in the commander’s tone that intrigued him however. He sounded distracted, as if perhaps their reconciliation hadn’t been the main purpose of his visit. Genji had no desire to step out of line again however, so he just stood still and silent. Reyes looked restless. His gloved hands opened and closed, and he took small, aimless paces in the clinic.

 

“Sit down.” He indicated to the bed.

 

Genji sat.

 

“Something has come up. Something we should talk about.”

 

The commander was never so indirect. Genji could feel cold dread slipping through him. He tried not to let his agitation show. The commander’s boots were heavy on the tiled floor.

 

“It’s about your brother.”

 

Genji already knew that. The commander wouldn’t be pacing if it wasn’t. Reyes paused to choose his words carefully.

 

“I have to meet him, don’t I.” Genji said quietly.

 

“You don’t have to do anything,” Reyes was fierce and adamant, but the niggling worry in his thick eyebrows never left as he said that. There was another silence broken only by Reyes steel toe-capped boots. “There’s a job come up back in your home place.”

 

Genji stiffened.

 

Reyes ignored that and kept talking,

 

“We need to infiltrate the Blackmarket and get hold of the goods coming out of Hanamura. Your brother has been dismantling the Shimada Clan. Turns out you were something of a tipping point in his life. He dropped off the radar after he… ‘killed’ you. I don’t know what’s with him, maybe he’s cracked. He’s been assassinating old family members, disrupting the business links both above and below board, cutting up all Shimada ties to assets. That in turn has what remains of the clan running scared. Your family built up quite the collection of Omnic artefacts from its days fighting in the Crisis. Someone is shifting them fast. We need someone who knows Hanamura, who knows the Blackmarket, who knows the Yakuza.”

 

“Hanzo knows all those things.” Genji said coldly.

 

“We need someone who knows the streets. We need a player. Not the head of the Shimada Clan who’s been running around tattoos blazing, murdering people on a whim. We need Genji Shimada: frequenter of high brow bars, master of partying, who knows every dirty person in Hanamura.”

 

“Shimada Genji is dead. He was pinned to the wall of his family home in a hail of arrows, then the twin dragons of the legendary family weapon _Storm Bow_ were unleashed upon him, carving his body up into pieces and leaving him dying in a pool of his own blood.”

 

Reyes winced. Genji painted a vivid and valid picture. He hated himself for even raising this. Jack had done a clever thing dumping all the facts in Reyes lap and leaving it to him. It was undeniable that this was an urgent matter and that Genji was _the_ person for the task.

 

“We need Genji Shimada’s knowledge and expertise.”

 

Genji kept looking at his hands, as if he weren’t quite sure who they belonged to.

 

“I do not wish to go back to Hanamura. Every corner of that place played a role in what was to come. I am not ready to confront that.” Maybe talking to Angela had done some good after all.

 

“And I get that.” Reyes was still pacing, “But it’s not like I’d be sending you back to make up with chocolate and roses. I’m asking you to deceive them, to pull them apart, to destroy the things that made them wealthy.” It was a good thing he’d made Doctor Ziegler leave the room, she’d highly disapprove of this. “I’m giving you revenge. A chance to let out some of that bottled up rage you got steaming out your every glance.”

 

Genji looked up slowly, finally interested, as Reyes knew he would be.

 

“That’s all well and good, Commander,” Genji’s voice was soft, “But you’re not _really_ offering me revenge, are you.”

 

Reyes knew what he was getting at. He had something for that too though. A slice from his own experiences in things that hurt.

 

“Thing is, it would also do a lot of good if Hanzo was on the ground for this mission with you.” He could see walls and fear and anger flying back into Genji’s eyes, but pressed on while he still had the upper hand, “But I can’t put some adjunct asset in charge of the mission, can I. It’s got to be a Blackwatch operative running the show.”

 

He could see a confused emotional cocktail stewing in the cyborg’s eyes as he took this in,

 

“Hanzo… would be under my command?”

 

“You got it.”

 

“Like he’d fucking listen. And isn’t this intelligence all his? He’d be lording it over me in seconds. Or stabbing me in the back. Not sure which would happen first.”

 

“Look.” Reyes kicked the wheels of Angela’s consulting chair so that it spun towards him. He seated himself and rolled it over to Genji. His voice took on a hushed quality. “Let me be straight with you: Hanzo Shimada is useful to us in so far as he’s got intel on this mission and can help us execute it. If he starts getting in the way…” Reyes shrugged, “All I’m saying is: accidents happen. And there’s only one Shimada I need for future operations.”

 

Genji blinked. He’d thought many things in his darkest hours, but he’d never quite mounted the real possibility of this proposal in his head.

 

“A-are you suggesting… Are you saying-…”

 

“Not saying anything, kid. Except that – let’s be real: the upgrades you’ve got – you are _fast._ Inhumanly fast. And armour plated. If it comes to it, you can take this guy. He’s not going to be one-upping you again. I don’t want to see you hiding under any more beds, because you are a killing machine. And if anyone’s got any reason to be scared in this watchpoint, it’s Hanzo Shimada.”

 

Genji’s brow knitted. Everything was a mess before him. He’d gone from worrying about the welfare of an Omnic on a riverbank in Scotland, to facing the real possibility of having to go back to his home city accompanied by the brother who attempted to murder him.

 

“Have a think about it, ok?” Reyes stood and clapped him on the shoulder.

 

Genji’s face was loss and confusion. He looked up quickly when the Commander took a step towards the exit.

 

“I would have to meet him.”

 

“That is the idea, yes.” Reyes paused on his way to the door.

 

“How would that-… what would that-…?”

 

“However you like. I can organise it. Do it in the detention room if you prefer. Or if you want something informal-”

 

“Not informal. I want you to be nearby.” Genji blurted, then felt foolish for saying so, but Reyes took it in his stride.

 

“Detention room then. You can stare at him through a one way mirror until you’re ready.”

 

“And can Jesse be there?”

 

“Anything you like, kid.”

 

“And Doctor Ziegler.”

 

“I mean sure, too many witnesses and I can’t ruff him up if he starts being shitty-”

 

“Roughing up won’t be necessary.” Genji said quickly.

 

“Right. Well. Write up your wishlist and Santa will see what he can do.”

 

Genji nodded. He was a swirl of colliding thoughts as the commander departed and the doctor returned to her clinic.

 

Angela could immediately see a shift in the man before her. She let him have his silence however, making one or two more notes in her file and then handing him a restock of food packs. He nodded his thanks, pulled a baggy hoodie back on and slunk out of the clinic, checking the corridors before he moved off.

 

The magnitude of his difficulties weighed on Angela. She had done what she could for him, bringing him back from death’s door in an almost impossible recovery that, had it not been classified, would have been the talk of the medical community. She could not help thinking however that she had done him a disservice, that she had not done enough. She thought about what he had said, about not being able to function like other people. She sipped at a cup of tea she found at her table and wrinkled her nose when she found it was cold. She took off her lab coat and hung it on a hat stand. She pulled on a turtleneck jumper and collected together some notes. She flicked through them. She took Genji’s file out of a cabinet and set off for the research laboratories.

 

“Angela!” Moira said in surprise, surreptitiously sliding a wad of paper under an industrial microwave with the back of her hand, “How lovely to see you, my dear.”

 

Angela’s face fell into its customary frown, as it always did when she entered the Moira’s lab. She glanced around disdainfully, as if expecting a crime against humanity to be occurring in the corner of the room.

 

“How can I help you today?” Moira crossed her legs, then placed one spidery hand on top, and perched the other on top of that. Her nails were painted outrageous shades of purple and long enough to be highly unhygenic to Angela’s mind.

 

Angela pulled herself up a seat at the lab bench next to Moira. Moira’s face ticked to irritation, but she smoothed over the moment. Angela tapped her papers straight then set them down on the work surface.

 

“Your ideas for Genji Shimada. Talk them through with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised too late that Angela and Moira are so much fun to write. Ah well. Sometime in the far flung future perhaps I'll give them a story of their own to hash it out in. Thanks for all your comments and support, I love reading your thoughts even if its just one sentence :)


	8. Dysfunctional Family

The first meeting wasn’t in a detention room with Commander Reyes. It wasn’t with anyone else in fact.

 

It had been a bright beautiful day, and the sun was setting molten gold over the Bay of Gibraltar. Most of the watchpoint inhabitants had taken their canteen food outside to enjoy the pleasant evening. Genji had taken the opportunity to go down to the practice range, the only room entirely windowless, and thus likely to be deserted. It was rare he got the whole range to himself, and he wanted to take out _Ryū Ichimonji_ away from prying eyes and possible injuries.

 

When he got to the range it was pleasantly cool and empty. In one corner was a large square of sparring mats, in another was a roped off shooting range with targets that could be lined up and a holographic projector that could simulate different terrains and scenarios. The other side of the hall was a simple, empty, large space with a parquet wooden floor, much more what Genji was used to.

 

He spent the first half an hour doing small exercises the doctor had suggested, getting used to the manoeuvrability of his cyber enhancements and letting his organic muscles stretch and warm up with them. He then took a more rigorous approach, he counted out his push-ups, and when his organic arm got tired, he moved his mechanical arm to his centre and kept going. He might not feel at one with the machine part of him, but it never ceased to amaze him how resilient it was, how it just kept going. He ran up the walls and flipped back off them. He jumped from standing and could reach three times higher than he ever had in his youth. An exhilaration flowed through him. He practised an empty-hand kata, taking the steps at first slowly across the dojo floor, then at speed, his mind pin-pointing the exact moment in each move intended to strike his opponent. A room full of invisible assailants fell under his touch as his feet formed ancient patterns on the floor. When he finished he was sweating, his augmentations flaring at the contact with moisture. He reached a hand behind his metal mask and ruffled his hair free of slick sweat. His breathing was heavy through the ventilator. He walked to the side where his katana and wakizashi lay next to his hoodie, bag, and spare ration packs. He picked up his katana reverently and pushed its hilt up from the scabbard with a thumb.

 

His head snapped up. Footsteps sounded in the hall. Genji clicked the katana back into its sheath. He crouched behind the low wall separating the dojo from the rest of the practice range. A figure had entered at the far end, apparently also taking advantage of the ‘empty’ room. Genji’s heart was already sinking, at this distance he couldn’t see who it was, but he had an inkling who might have used the same logic as him to come here at this time. He looked at his things. There was only one exit from the practice range, and not many in the watchpoint walked around with two swords. None, in fact, other than himself. He pulled his hoodie on and made sure his face was concealed. He silently replaced his ration packs in his rucksack and swung it onto his back. He took his swords one in each hand. He took a deep breath.

 

He strode straight through the centre of the practice range.

 

Hanzo had stopped at the shooting range. Overwatch recruits were always watching him when he came here, fascinated even by the way he strung his bow. Their faces were always filled with questions, like why did he used such an outdated weapon, or how long did it take to get the tattoo that wound up the bow arm he needed free for shooting. There were few opportunities when he could simply be by himself and shoot. He didn’t need a crowd of people _oohing_ and _ahhing_ over where his arrows landed. He wanted perfection, and the sounds of people awed by what he saw as inadequacy irked him no end. The range was not as empty as he first assumed however. Someone had been so quiet that even he, who prided himself on his attentiveness, had not realised he wasn’t alone. That thought disturbed him.

 

The figure who strode past ignored him. They were wearing a shapeless baggy hoodie that swamped all their features, and some kind of metal plating on their legs. It was the swords in their hands that caught Hanzo’s attention. His eyes widened when he saw the daisho. He turned round fully, mouth parting. Up until now, he had been sceptical that Overwatch really had managed to revive his brother. There was no mistaking the legendary Shimada family blade being walked past him though. His eyes followed Genji, who made no show of recognising him or noticing him. Hanzo felt something tighten in his chest. He respected the silence, and let his brother pass undisturbed.

 

Genji’s heart was hammering so hard he thought his last fully functioning organ might give out. He had to stop when he finally got through the double doors at the end of the hall. He drew in two long breaths. Hanzo had without a doubt known it was him. Thankfully his brother always opted for predictable silence when confronted with awkward situations. Genji squeezed his eyes shut. Then he opened them again, and walked as fast as he respectably could.

***

“You just walked right passed him?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Didn’t stop or nothin’? Didn’t say a word?”

 

“No.”

 

“Badass.” McCree evaluated. They were sitting drinking milkshakes on the wilting but most comfortable couch in the Blackwatch commonroom. McCree had meticulously constructed a pipeline of multi-coloured bendystraws that linked the milkshake cartoon to one of Genji’s digestion tubes.

 

“Doctor Ziegler will be mad if she finds out what I’m putting inside me.”

 

“Don’t change the subject, this is too good.” Jesse sat back and sucked noisily on his milkshake, “And that bastard for sure knew it was you, right?”

 

Genji sighed,

 

“How many other people on base are walking around with Shimada ancestral blades?”

 

“I wish I could have seen the shapes his angry little eyebrows woulda made.”

 

“Angry enormous eyebrows, more like.”

 

Jesse snorted into his milkshake, and Genji’s eyes lit with amusement.

 

“Oh lord, do I want to know what’s happening in here?” Moira walked in and aimed for the fridge. She paused before she got there to look extremely unimpressed at the straw structure hooked up to Genji. “Really, are you two sure you’re adults?”

 

“I didn’t make no claim like that, ma’am.” Jesse tilted his ever present hat at her. “Hey, Genji met his brother today.”

 

Genji glared at him.

 

Moira turned back from the fridge, face changing entirely, she fixed Genji with mismatched eyes,

 

“You did?”

 

Genji sunk back into the comfort of his hoodie and merely scowled.

 

“’Course they just totally blanked each other, ‘cause I mean it’s Genji plus Genji squared we’re talkin’ bout here.”

 

Moira raised an eyebrow. She reached into the fridge and brought out a jar with brown liquid sloshing inside.

 

“Yeah what the fuck is that, it’s been in there weeks.” McCree angled his straw to suck up rogue milkshake collecting in the carton corners.

 

“Just a little experiment.” Moira unscrewed the lid. “Couple of gorged leeches that I was hoping might survive in lower temperatures.” She swilled the jar, “Looks like that formulas going to need a little more work.”

 

Jesse jumped back on the sofa, pulling his legs under him like the floor was a pool of sharks.

 

“Leeches! I thought they was pickles! I nearly had one in a sandwich last week!”

 

“Well you shouldn’t take what’s not yours, Jesse,” Moira said mildly. “And please don’t destroy that sofa any more than it already is. Blackwatch funding goes to better use in my lab than it does replacing furniture your clumsy clodhoppers have gone through.”

 

“You put leeches in the communal fridge?” Genji was incredulous.

 

“Oh, now he talks.”

 

“Who’s talking?” Reyes strode in and made a show of waiting impatiently, arms folded and foot tapping, for Moira to finish with the fridge. “Sure isn’t the guy I’ve got in a holding cell over the bay in Algeciras. You know that guy who got stopped at customs flying into Madrid – no you won’t I didn’t tell you. Well, he was smuggling an old E-type bastion motherboard into the country so he was passed my way but of course still has to be held in Spanish territory. Not talking at all. Spent all day on him and not a squeak. Maybe I’m losing my touch.”

 

“Don’t think you’re at risk of losin’ any touches, Boss. That man’s definitely got the livin’ hell scared outa him, I can tell from all the way over here an-”

 

“What the fuck is that?” Reyes squinted at the bendystraw pipeline. “Is this what you let them do when I’m not around?” He said accusingly to Moira.

 

“What?! No! I just got here.”

 

“ _She_ -!” Jesse pointed an accusing finger, “ _She_ keeps leeches in the fridge! _Our_ fridge! Leeches that look a mighty lot like pickles!”

 

“Who’s _she_ , the cat’s mother?” Moira put the lid back on her jar of dead leeches, then put them back in the fridge and pulled out a beer instead.

 

“Don’t put them back in?!” Jesse clapped his hands to his cheeks. “That’s it I ain’t never eatin’ nothin’ in there ever again.” He murmured to Genji, who was still squeezing milkshake out his carton.

 

“You really keeping dead stuff in there?” Reyes murmured to Moira.

 

“They weren’t dead when I put them in there, Commander,” Moira said, still with her mildly amused tone, “And besides, _these_ are dead, and I assume what you’re waiting to get out from here.” She tossed him a pack of beef jerky that he caught. “Which, by the way, Commander, does _not_ need refrigeration – unlike my cold-resistant leech experiment.”

 

“Cold- _un_ resistant.” Genji corrected.

 

“Shut it, smartarse. Go back to being silent and brooding.” Moira cracked open her beer and sat on the second-most-comfortable sofa.

 

The commander opened his beef jerky and put one in his mouth and chewed. He sat down heavily next to Moira.

 

“These sofas are terrible. Remind me to buy new ones.”

 

“How about I remind you about that new fume cupboard I was due last month.”

 

“Oh that.” Reyes waved Moira’s proposal away, “I’ll get to that.” He popped another piece of jerky in his mouth.

 

“Specs were on your desk thirty-eight days ago, Commander.”

 

“Alright.” Reyes said around a mouthful, “I’ll do it tomorrow. Once I’ve got back from Algeciras. Hey, Genji, fancy a boat trip tomorrow?”

 

“What! How come he gets to go!? I always used to be your interrogation person!”

 

“Have you got reloadable shuriken coming out your arm and glowing red eyes, Jesse? No. You’re about as intimidating a roadside kids show.”

 

“That’s very insensitive, Commander,” Moira put in.

 

“Thank-you!” Jesse cried indignantly.

 

“Insensitive towards our resident cyborg, who may not wish his appearance to be used to intimidate ne’er-do-wells.” Moira continued.

 

“I get not the least bit of love ‘n’ support from this here family.” McCree folded his arms and huffed.

 

Genji unhooked his bendystraws and plugged his tubing back in,

 

“I’ll come, Commander.” Genji said.

 

“Good. It’s a nice trip. Beautiful sea. Beautiful city.”

 

“Beautiful barely legal prisoner interrogation.” Moira put in.

 

“Don’t put him off.” Reyes wagged a finger at Moira.

 

“So unfair.” McCree muttered.

 

Genji felt for his friend.

 

“Commander, about the Hanamura mission.”

 

The room fell silent.

 

“Yeah. What about it?” Reyes said slowly.

 

“Could it be a three-person team on the ground.” Genji looked to McCree. “Could Jesse come?”

 

Reyes frowned,

 

“Doubt the Yakuza will think much of a foreign loud-mouthed American in their midst.”

 

“I take after the boss like that.” McCree put in.

 

“Actually, that won’t matter at all.” Genji said simply, “Foreigners are something of an intrigue in the remoter parts of Japan. People are happier to let manners slide and put away some of their harder tempers for the sake of a guest. The Yakuza are no exception. Everyone delights in showing their home to a foreigner. They find it all very amusing and very exciting. Livens up the same old routine. McCree would be an asset to the mission, breaking tension between old contacts and I, whilst also ensuring my brother and I don’t kill each other before the mission gets going.”

 

The room fell silent again. Reyes chewed on his jerky in thought. Eventually he shrugged,

 

“It’s your team, you can have whoever you want if you think it’ll get the job done.”

 

Genji sat back in the couch, comfortable. Everyone else was stiff and quiet.

 

Jesse could feel the tension and uncertainty heavy on the air. He cleared his throat in an effort to cut through the awkwardness.

 

“Ahem. What’s this now? I gotta work for this guy?” He jerked his thumb Genji’s way, “I’m _two years_ older than him, so by rights that command gets to go to me.”

 

“Hanzo’s a year older than you.” Genji said, killing the conversation in the room again.

 

“The team’s Genji’s.” Reyes said after a long moment, trying to smooth over the fractures in the atmosphere.

 

Moira downed the rest of her beer.

 

“Charming conversation, boys. But I think I’m going to retire.” She pointed a finger at Reyes, “Don’t forget that fume cabinet.” She stalked off towards her quarters.

 

There was silence in the room after that. The sun had truly set and left long warm shadows stretching in stripes from the windows to deep corners. Eventually Reyes reached for the television remote and flicked on a drama in Spanish. Genji liked the way the room was lit only by the blue light of the TV and felt at ease in the presence of his friend and his commander.

 

Jesse was restless, unsure what to say or do. He looked up and saw Genji was watching the drama on the screen too.

 

“You understand that?” He nudged Genji.

 

“Downloaded subtitles. Have them going across my vision.” Genji whispered back.

 

“Quiet!” Reyes hissed, and turned up the volume on the TV.

 

McCree moved closer,

 

“What’s happening now?” He said under his breath to Genji.

 

“My subtitles are in Japanese. I can’t translate that fast.”

 

“You guys!” McCree stood up. “So unreasonable.”

 

Reyes pulled a slipper off his foot and threw it at Jesse. Jesse ducked but took it as his cue to leave.

 

Genji remained curled up in his corner of the sofa, vaguely watching the show but mostly lulled into rest by the blue light and calm ambience.

 

When Reyes turned off the television an hour later, Genji was fast asleep. Reyes paused, checking the weight of his footsteps. He gingerly laid a blanket over the sleeping figure. Then felt foolish, because he’d draped it over the cyborg part of Genji that felt no cold. He grumbled to himself about becoming soft, then sloped out the room, collecting his stray slipper as he left.


	9. Snatches of Peace

The sea was a brilliant turquoise green, dazzling under a bright sun. Genji flicked filters over his eyes to shade from the glare. The bounce of the speedboat cutting over the harbour wavelets had a hypnotic rhythm. He liked the strong salt smell that reminded him of tastes he’d forgotten, and the fresh snapping wind, cool and young on his bare arm and shoulder. Commander Reyes sat in a beanie hat and dull grey military regalia, with black body armour across his chest and a rack of shotgun slugs bound about his waist. He scrolled endlessly down a datapad, not noticing the bay, Genji, or the civilian fisherman taking them over to Algeciras. Genji relaxed, enjoying the sea spray and trailing his augmented fingers through the water.

 

“Commander?”

 

“What?” Reyes didn’t look up from his datapad.

 

“What does a team leader do? How do you be a good one of them?”

 

Reyes slowly raised his eyes. He let out a long breath and pocketed the datapad.

 

“You’re worried about this mission?”

 

“Not… worried.” Genji replied, “I just haven’t been a leader before. So I wanted to know what one does. I want to do it well.” _And for Hanzo not to take charge because he could do it better._ But he didn’t say that.

 

“Well, it’s…” Reyes stroke his beard for a moment, “It’s always keeping the aim of the mission in mind, and not just the personal desires of any one person on the team, including yourself. It’s being able to listen to the rest of the team, and not judge the proposals based on who said them, just on how sound the idea is. It’s weighing up risks to your team compared with the most efficient action to complete a mission. That kind of stuff.”

 

Genji’s face fell. He wasn’t sure he’d be very good at any of that, especially the bit that sounded like getting along with other people.

 

When Genji said nothing, Reyes pulled his datapad back out. Genji sat quietly. He hunched over in his seat and spent the rest of the crossing staring at the boat bottom, anxiously thinking through the prospect of the Hanamura mission.

 

Genji had seen the outside and inside of a number of prisons, but none of them held a candle to the impressive structure he was taken to in Algeciras. A double flight of steps approached from either side and opened onto a handsome stone arch doorway. Barrack-style wings with whitewash walls spread away from the entrance hall, with vernacular red tile roofs. The only indication this was a prison at all and not a grand town hall, were the bars on all the windows and the back-up laser grids that shuddered into view when he flicked his finger at them.

 

He was shown through a white stone lobby, where the staff were all too busy or perhaps recognised Commander Reyes, and let them pass by unchecked. Ten minutes later Genji was standing outside a detention room, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. It was clear from the layout of the complex and the detainees he’d seen so far, that this building was primarily used for processing migrants, and not for housing criminals. A number of families and even a few harassed looking Omnics were in the processing lines.

 

“Who are we talking to again, Commander?” Genji asked. His fingers curled, betraying a little of his uncertainty.

 

“Smuggler.” Reyes was still scrolling through his datapad. “Spain’s in an EU agreement – when a certain threshold of Omnic tech is found at customs the case gets turned over to Overwatch jurisdiction, or if you’re really unlucky – Blackwatch. Guy in this room was eight times over the threshold. This place is a bit of a no-man’s land – _Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros_. Perp was transferred here so that we could take over the case.”

 

Genji nodded, mostly following.

 

“And… what do I have to do?”

 

Reyes looked up and gave him a wolfish smile,

 

“Scare the shit out of him.”

 

“I’m not sure how I can succeed where you have not, Commander.”

 

“Ah, give yourself some credit.”

 

“Commander, I’ve never done anything like this before. I was always sent to charm clients, not intimidate them. You’ve brought the wrong Shimada.”

 

“Look, Kid, it’s acting, right? You’ve never done any acting before?”

 

Genji hesitated,

 

“Not in English. It’s hard enough making myself understood, let alone… pretending to be something I’m not.”

 

“So do it in Japanese. I don’t care what you say, only how you say it. I’m going to be translating it all anyway, the guy only speaks Spanish.” Reyes stowed his datapad again, “Now, ready?”

 

Genji nodded slowly.

 

“And, uh. Turn those red lights up full. I’ll dim them in the detention room a bit. It’ll look good. Now, I’m going to go in. Count to twenty them come in after me, ok?”

 

Genji nodded again.

 

Reyes nodded to a security guard and he was let in the room. The door shut again, and Genji was alone. He felt foolish and out of place. He wondered how angry the commander would be if he slipped off and bought a milkshake instead. He almost forgot to count. _That’s about twenty_. He opened the door and was about to shuffle in behind the commander, when he remembered the comment about acting. His mind went to his childhood, pulling out images of TV villains and dramatic evil overlords. He strode in with an air of absolute control.

 

“ _This is my cyborg assassin._ ” Reyes announced to his detainee in Spanish. It took him a moment to get the sentence out, because the Genji who entered the room seemed so utterly different from the uncertain haunted person he’d left beyond the door a moment before. Red glowed from cracks in his suit and his eyes. The wires and tubes framed his faintly glowing armour like the tentacles of a beast risen from the depths. His ventilator was loud in the small room. The red light in his eyes flashed as he blinked.

 

“ _I told you if you didn’t talk last time I’d bring you something special. My assassin is very special. Shall I let you in on a secret?”_ Reyes leaned forward. Genji had no idea what he was saying but folded his arms and stood, menacing holding his posture and character. The detainee retracted a little from the spectre before him. The detention room boasted one steel table, a high barred window, a CCTV camera that someone had ‘forgotten’ to switch on, and one startled looking detainee with buzzed hair and a well trimmed beard. _“The secret_ ,” Reyes continued, “ _Is that my assassin is almost uncontrollable. Once he gets it in his head what he wants to do to a man..._ ” Reyes shook his head. He turned the chair he was sitting in slightly to face Genji, _“Tell us, what would you do to a man like Juan here?_ ”

 

Genji stared at the commander, uncomprehending. He saw from the gesture in Reyes’ hand though, that this was his moment. He racked his brains and whilst holding himself taller. He put on his best intimidating accent and launched into action.

 

“ _I wished to become king, and bring about salvation! I am your future! I am he, the most glorious supreme overlord of all time!_ ” He delivered this entirely in Japanese.

 

“ _He says he would begin by identifying every weak point in your body and sticking you through with red hot pins. And he’d start with your eyes.”_ Reyes translated into Spanish.

 

The detainee looked wildly between Reyes and Genji. Reyes gestured with a finger for Genji to continue. Genji shook his head, slightly at a loss, then thought he might as well keep going,

 

“ _Cast aside that belt, and you will no longer carry the power of a Kamen Rider! And thus, you will never grow to become Overlord!”_

 

“ _He will take out your eyes and put them on little cocktail sticks. He will hunt down your mother, and your mother’s mother, and your mother’s mother’s sisters, just so that he can show every one of them your eyeballs on little sticks._ ”

 

That was a lot longer than what Genji had said, which Genji thought was bad form, but by now he was quite enjoying his role. So before Reyes could continue, he planted his foot on a chair and leaned toward the detainee.

 

“ _Throw away your rider belt! If you throw away the belt you'll never gain this level of power, you'll never become an overlord or a king like me! You will have to abandon your dreams!_ ” He stretched out a hand and curled it into a fist before the detainee’s nose. Then he remembered what the commander had said about Jesse not having shuriken. His wrist opened up and three shuriken rolled out of the interior of his arm and loaded between his fingers, razor sharp edges a fraction away from the man’s face.

 

“ _I’ll tell you about the Omnic parts! I’ll tell you!_ ” The detainee was dragging himself away from Genji as far as his wrists handcuffed to the table would allow. His eyes were wide in terror and a cold sweat was on his brow, “ _Just don’t let him d-do those things. Take my eyes to my mama or abuela or my aunties!”_

 

“ _Right you are, Juan.”_ Reyes, pulled out a wad of paperwork from somewhere and set it on the desk. He switched to English, “Thank you, Genji, that’ll be all. Wait outside, this won’t take long. _Lights up please.”_ He called to the security guard outside and the dimmed lights rolled up a little. Genji left feeling pretty pleased with himself.

 

Twenty minutes later Reyes was striding out the detention room with a full wad of confessions, he had a rare smile on his face.

 

“Where did that come from!?” He said as Genji matched his pace.

 

“What?” Genji was a little shy.

 

“That! In there!”

 

Genji shrugged,

 

“Kamen Rider Zi-O. Old classic.” He frowned a little, “What did you say to that man?”

 

Reyes pulled a mild expression and waved dismissively,

 

“Oh, you know. This and that. It was your theatrics that won him over.”

 

Genji looked at him out the corner of his eyes, sceptical, but said nothing.

 

“Want to look around town?” Reyes was a master at sliding conversation away from his grey morals.

 

Genji was intrigued by the sunbaked beauty of this city and the geometric patterned tiles inset in its architecture. He didn’t have his hoodie with him though, and was already aware of the eyes glancing his way. He’d liked that trip out to the bar with Jesse, Moira, and the Commander, though, and wanted to try hard not to be like Hanzo – dealing with his insecurities through reclusive behaviour.

 

“Uh… maybe?”

 

“Good. I have to be back at the watchpoint for this afternoon, but I’ll send the boat back across for you and you can take it when you’re done.”

 

“On my own?” Genji blurted.

 

Reyes raised an eyebrow,

 

“It’s just a boat. I’m pretty sure it won’t eat you.”

 

“No, I meant-” Genji shook his head, there was no way he was looking round town on his own. “Nevermind. I’m coming with you.”

 

Reyes shrugged,

 

“Suit yourself.”

 

As the boat moored back up beneath the watchpoint, the hulk of the Rock of Gibraltar turned the sea deep green with murky shadows. Genji stepped out of the rocking boat, and followed the commander up the concrete steps onto the jetty. Reyes had his datapad in hand again. He pulled from the screen and brought up a holographic display that hovered in a semi circle about his head. He spun the display, tapping through various communications and notes as he walked. Genji stayed quiet behind him.

 

The watchpoint was built right up into the cliff face of the rock, and said to be connected to subterranean tunnels built a century before. From the jetty there was a short walk through the town, and then a steep climb along the old private military roads. The watchpoint jutted out proud, boasting a number of landing pads and towers with a view both west to the Bay of Gibraltar and east to look out over all the Mediterranean. A number of its towers were unstaffed even with both Overwatch and Blackwatch currently in full residence. Their numbers had never been what they were during the height of the Omnic Crisis. International funding had a way of clamming up during peacetime.

 

Reyes swiped away his holographic computer as they made the last climb up to the watchpoint. The concrete and steel building rose abruptly out of a mossy cliff face.

 

“You good to set this meeting for tomorrow?” He said over his shoulder to Genji.

 

“What meeting?” Genji asked, even though he already knew what meeting.

 

“With your brother. We’ll do it in detention room one, 10AM. I want you there half an hour beforehand.”

 

Genji nodded stiffly. Reyes put his finger to a printlock and steel double doors slid aside for them.

 

“You’ve got a half day until then. Make sure you’re ready for tomorrow.”

 

Genji knew what that meant too. It meant no backing out at the last minute. Reyes had given him a chance to back out, now he expected everything to be followed through. The moment he was inside the watchpoint, Genji let his feet take him in the direction of the Blackwatch commonroom, the place most likely to be Hanzo-free.

 

The commonroom was deserted. It was shortly after midday, so that shouldn’t have surprised him. He paced up and down, and subconsciously itched the join on his chest between muscle and metal. He wished McCree would come in and laugh at him and set everything at ease. Or even Moira. Perhaps not Moira. Genji was never really sure she saw _him._ She always looked at him with eyes that betrayed she was thinking of what could be done to him. He wished he could go to the practice range, but he didn’t want a repeat of last time. He found himself in front of the commonroom window. It had a rusting lock, which he flipped. He slid the glass along and fresh air poured into the musty room, setting dust motes in a flurry, dancing madly in a shaft of sunlight. Genji pulled himself up and out the window. He climbed up the side of the building until he reached its roof. He lay on his back, a mossy green overhang of dark rock spilling shadows over him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

 

He lay like that for a while, then watched the clouds that passed behind the cliff face. He spent the rest of the afternoon climbing the cliff face above him, and testing the balance and capabilities of his augmentations. When he descended back to the Blackwatch window, the sky was going shades of tangerine orange and dipping into the purple of evening. He slipped back in just as McCree was stuffing yogurts into the fridge.

 

“Y’whatnowdamn! You nearly gave me a heartattack! I’m pretty quick on the draw so hows about some fair warning before you scare the daylights out of a man!”

 

Genji gave him a clap on the shoulder as he passed,

 

“Watch out for the dead leeches. They are still in there somewhere.”

 

He took himself off to the showers and turned up the heat, letting the room fill with steam. He stepped into the fine mist, and then under the showerhead, letting the water sluice down his face and skin. He could feel the customary ache starting as the humidity irritated his scars and augmentations. He ignored these and let the hot water beat down on him. He towelled his skin dry, but could never manage to stop the rest of him dripping water through the watchpoint corridors. He always felt a little guilty as he slunk back to his quarters leaving a trail of puddles behind him. He passed someone coming the opposite way,

 

“It’s wet. Watch your step,” He told them.

 

The person froze at the sound of his voice.

 

The hair on the back of Genji’s arm stood up. He could hear the person turning on the spot, but he quickened his pace and didn’t look back. He shut the door to his quarters behind him and leaned back against the door.

 

_Let him not have seen. Let him not have seen what I’ve become. Let me have one more day where I’m invisible._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, the Shimada bros hash it out in the detention room, hold on to your hearts. PS Cheers for your comments, faves and kudos on fanfic.net and A03. You can also find me on tumblr at https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com . Feel free to drop me a message there if you're enjoying the story :)


	10. Detention Room One

Genji arrived early as he’d been instructed. He was fully charged but had barely slept at all. He was the first one at the detention room and paced outside, sincerely hoping Hanzo would not be next. Reyes arrived with a mug of coffee in each hand.

 

“You drink coffee, kid?”

 

Genji shook his head.

 

“Y’do now. Drink up. You look like you’ve been up all night.” He shoved the cup into Genji’s hand. Genji looked at it. He could adjust his intake and vacuum the liquid up through one of the tubes at the back of his head, but the coffee smelled bitter and unappetising. “Right, with me.” Reyes swiped his thumb across a pad and unlocked a door beside the detention room. He kicked it open with a boot then held it for Genji. Genji sloped in. A number of chairs and an old looking coffee machine were inside, along with a large window looking into the detention room. “Sit.” Reyes pulled up a chair. Genji sat. “We’re going to sit here. Everything else is taken care of.”

 

Genji clutched the coffee mug for lack of anything else to do with his hands. The heat from the mug and the shape of it in his hands was faintly comforting at least. Slowly all the people he wanted nearby appeared. He saw Jesse walk into the detention room and set down a teapot and two mugs. He gave the room a look over, then blew a kiss toward the one way mirror.

 

“The tea was the Doc’s idea. To ease the tension.”

 

“I can’t drink it.” Genji said emptily. He wasn’t about to start disconnecting tubes in front of his brother.

 

“That bastard doesn’t need to know that just yet though does he.” Reyes put his feet up on the sill of the window and drank his coffee.

 

Next came Angela. She came into the back room with Genji and Reyes, and pulled up a chair nearby. Genji felt foolish. The doctor had lots of work to do, and she couldn’t very well do it if she was sitting in here watching him make an idiot of himself.

 

“Sorry for disturbing you, Doctor Ziegler. Please do not stay if you-”

 

“Genji,” Angela smiled. It was gentle and reassuring. Like it had been when he was first air lifted into her clinic, and everything had been a blur of pain. She had managed to cut through that cloud of anguish and give him his options. It was hard not to trust someone who had held your life in the palm of their hand. “I’m happy to be here. Just let me know if you need anything.”

 

Genji nodded, hoping the gesture conveyed the gratitude he felt inside. His eyes had become glued on the detention room door however, which Jesse now held open with one hand. Genji felt his heartbeat pick up. Jesse’s face was sober. He titled his hat at someone beyond the door, like the way the undertaker had at the funeral for Genji’s father.

 

A moment later Hanzo entered the room. He was dressed in a smart tailored suit with a pinstripe waistcoat and midnight blue tie. Genji looked down at himself, metal plated legs pulled up and crossed under him, hands stuffed deep in a now customary oversized hoodie that enveloped his upper body. He immediately felt under-dressed and under-prepared.

 

Hanzo looked exactly as he remembered him. Serene, still, unmoved and unphased by his surroundings. He seated himself in the detention room, and did not seem concerned when McCree let the door swing shut. Hanzo turned and looked straight at Genji. Genji froze.

 

“It’s one way, kid.” Reyes crossed his legs the other way on the window sill and drank his coffee noisily, “He can’t see shit.”

 

Hanzo’s gaze slid away, and he gave the rest of the room a cursory glance before his eyes settled on the tea before him. He remained motionless, the tea untouched.

 

“Is it the wrong kind?” Angela leaned forward and squinted through the mirror, “Captain Amari said he’s really fussy about tea.”

 

Genji stared at Hanzo, sitting there, a pane of glass away. It was hard to see the man who had done this to him, and not the brother he had grown up beside for twenty-five years.

 

“I don’t want him to see me like this.” He said quietly.

 

Reyes opened his mouth, expression going hard. Angela raised a hand behind Genji and gave Reyes a fierce look to silence him.

 

“You have nothing to be ashamed of.” She said gently, and drew her chair up so that she was next to Genji. “You are one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. And the Genji Shimada who asked for this body was a determined survivor. You are here today because you persevered in the face of overwhelming odds. No one can take that from you.” She looked through the glass, “Especially not him.”

 

Genji sat very still.

 

Reyes exchanged a look with Angela in which she managed to convey her insistence that he give Genji his time and space.

 

Hanzo interlocked his hands and placed them before him on the desk. Genji could see all the telltale signs that betrayed his brother’s impatience. Genji shut his eyes tightly then drew in a long slow breath. Immediately an old familiar scene jumped to the forefront of his thought.

 

_He was in the central room of their ancestral family home. He had just returned from an unplanned trip to Tokyo and had caught the early morning train back up to Hanamura, having stayed up all night. He was keen for a bath and then bed, or perhaps the other way round. He was here, loitering in the main room though, because he had been ordered there by the head of the clan. Given how pissed Hanzo was going to be at his unannounced four day absence in the capital, he’d decided not to provoke him any further by ignoring his summons. He waited a long time, rubbing his eyes to try and keep the sleep from them, his old shirt rubbing on his neck, and the soles of his feet aching from the night spent on his feet drinking cocktails on the thirty-seventh floor of a tower overlooking the neon Tokyo cityscape. Hanzo arrived dressed impeccably. He wore a fine kimono and hakama, with one shoulder bared to expose his intricate dragon tattoo sleeve. Genji smiled vaguely when his brother finally arrived._

 

“ _Thought you were going to make me stand here all day. Not that I don’t deserve it, I know. Sorry about just taking off again after we last spoke. It was a lot. I needed a few days. But I’m back now. And so damn tired. Are you mad? I mean, I know you’re mad – you’re mad I didn’t agree to everything you asked, you’re mad I ran away, you’re mad I’m generally not what everyone wants me to be, but can we do this once I’ve slept? I got a tea on the train and I think that one cup of caffeine is what’s keeping me on my feet here.”_

 

_Hanzo said nothing._

 

_Genji shaded his eyes from the morning light seeping into the room._

 

“ _Genji.” Hanzo finally said._

 

_Genji’s body relaxed, if they were at talking, he could make this right. It was always Hanzo’s silences he dreaded._

 

“ _Yeah?”_

 

_There was a pause._

 

“ _Genji.” Hanzo said again. And his voice was stiff. Like his movements._

 

_Something about it sent a shiver through Genji. He realised he was afraid. He saw something in his brother’s eyes. A kind of resolve. Hanzo unslung the bow from his back. Genji’s eyes widened, but he still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe he was seeing what he was seeing. Even as the first arrow notched on the string-_

 

“Genji.” Angela touched his arm.

 

Genji gave a jolt and his head snapped up. Angela withdrew her hand quickly.

 

“Genji, if you don’t want to do this…” Angela looked at him anxiously. Reyes gave her a glare.

 

“No. I’m good.” Genji said stiffly. He needed to do this now or he wasn’t going to be able to. He stood abruptly and pulled open the door. McCree stood outside the detention room.

 

“You good?” His eyes betrayed the fact that he firmly believed Genji was anything but good. Genji ignored him and pushed open the door. The room was dimly lit and dominated by the long black one-way mirror. Genji sat himself down heavily on the chair opposite his brother. He pulled the strings on his hood to tighten it a little and keep his face from view, then plunged his hands into his pockets and glared straight down at the table.

 

There was a prolonged silence that Genji felt under no obligation to break. It was Hanzo at last that spoke. When he did, it was in Japanese, no doubt under some semblance of privacy.

 

“So, you are still alive.”

 

“Am I?” Genji snapped back, painfully away of the growling mechanical texture his voice took on as it filtered through the ventilator.

 

There was another silence in which Genji was again unforthcoming.

 

“I’m just here because Overwatch and I have a common enemy. Our meeting need not be anything more than business. It suits both our purposes to co-operate in Hanamura.”

 

Genji could feel painful things tearing inside him. He shook his head slightly, amazed at how his brother could once again partition the past from the present.

 

“What is it?” Hanzo asked sharply. Genji had forgotten what it was like to be in the presence of someone who could read all the minutiae in his movements.

 

“Leave the past in the past, is that it?” Genji was cold. Cold and hurt.

 

“If that is what you wish.” Hanzo said impassively.

 

Genji hated that he could be so cool, so emotionless, now of all times. Hanzo had always been the one better at hiding, better at keeping his exterior blank, better at cutting himself off from the passion and pain of life.

 

“How exactly would I go about leaving the past in the past?!” And suddenly things were coming out. Explosions of the old him and the new him all entwined and mashed together, “How would I!? When I can’t even walk down the street!?” He pulled his hood down and stared with red eyes at his brother. Hanzo recoiled slightly. The movement made Genji furious. He stood, pulled off his hoodie and threw it on the ground. “Take a good look!” He snarled.

 

Hanzo’s eyes moved over him. His face remained even, but Genji knew him well enough to see the dismay in his body language, and the disapproval.

 

“Go on!” Genji slammed his palms on the desk, rattling the teacups. He leaned over into Hanzo’s face, “Say it to my face! Tell me I should have stayed dead! I fucking dare you!”

 

Hanzo’s eyes flashed in anger, the only indication of emotion before he controlled himself again. He did not lean back despite his space being invaded.

 

“You’re making a scene in front of all your new friends.” Hanzo’s voice was soft.

 

“It’ll be even more of a scene if I do it in fucking English.” Genji said, in fucking English.

 

Hanzo gave him a disapproving look.

 

Genji slowly lowered himself into the chair again.

 

“As I was saying,” Hanzo continued in Japanese in that same distant business tone, “You have every right to hate me. I’m not here to change that. There are simply other matters that must be dealt with also. I believe your commander has outlined the situation to y-”

 

“You want me to hate you.”

 

Hanzo stopped and his expression ticked to irritation again.

 

“That’s what this is about,” Genji continued, “This charade where you pretend civil conversation is an option after what you did to me. You think my hatred will lesson your guilt. If you even have any.”

 

“Of course I have guilt.” Hanzo finally snapped at him.

 

“You didn’t even hesitate. You didn’t even-” And Genji was mortified to here his voice cracking, so immediately ploughed himself into silence.

 

“Of course I hesitated!” Hanzo was as heated as he was now, “Why do you think I left you waiting there for thirty-five minutes?!”

 

“Because you could.” But in the back of Genji’s mind there was a desperate stretch for that smattering of hope. He needed to hear so badly that Hanzo had doubted, that he had hesitated, that he had regrets. “Because you had the power to. Because you were showing off. Or angry. Or any number of reasons.”

 

“I was on the balcony above, watching you.”

 

Genji paused. That made a difference. That made so much difference.

 

Hanzo’s face was flickering in a disturbed eddy of emotions,

 

“You really thought I… didn’t even consider my options? That I didn’t even hesitate?”

 

Genji looked him in the eye, and let him see the hurt and fear and vulnerability that had been haunting him every hour since they last met. Hanzo’s mouth parted slightly, then he looked away sharply. He had given Genji a fraction of a window there too. A window into tortured guilt, eating away at him until it was a thing monstrous and all consuming.

 

They sat in stewing silence again, each raging in the cages of their minds. Genji folded his arms and slouched back into his chair. Hanzo reached for the teapot. He opened the lid, then replaced it. He flicked through a selection of teas set out in a small basket. He tutted faintly and extracted two green teabags. He slit open their tiny packets and dropped them both into the teapot. He put a hand on the lid, swirled the tea in the pot then poured out two cups. The gesture was so familiar that Genji felt some of the strung tension unwind in him. Then he remembered he couldn’t drink, and share in this one small gesture of peace. He swiped his hoodie from the floor and held it to him, wrapping his arms tight around it for comfort. Hanzo nudged one cup slightly towards him, then picked up his own. He sipped quietly.

 

Genji looked at the cup. He could feel unstable things lurching inside him. He suddenly wished he hadn’t asked for so many people to be nearby whilst this exchange took place. They’d all seen him much worse, he knew, but it was still embarrassing to think they were watching this. Genji could see the uncertainty in Hanzo’s movements brought on by the untouched cup. Hanzo would be reading this as a rejection of his attempt at an olive branch. Genji pulled the cup towards him. He saw his brother’s shoulders untense a little. He was still watching though.

 

“I can’t actually-” Genji’s voice was shaky. He blinked quickly and tried again, “I can’t-” His voice cracked again, so he just gestured at the cup and looked away.

 

There was another quiet, in which Genji kept his gaze averted. He realised there was wet collecting on the sill of his mask. _Fuck._ Genji tilted his face at an awkward angle to drain the unwanted tears off in a direction his brother wouldn’t notice.

 

“How do you eat and drink?” Genji was relieved to hear that Hanzo was trying and failing to hide all the distress in his voice as well.

 

It was strangely calming to hear that these things hurt his brother too.

 

“Um.” Genji masked a sniff, and blinked rapidly, “A kind of tube. But the doctor is working on that. It might change in the future.”

 

“Eating out of a tube.” Hanzo repeated softly.

 

Shame clouded up inside Genji and he looked down. He held his hoodie closer to him and wished he hadn’t taken it off in a fit of rage.

 

“And you’re working for them in exchange for what they’ve done to you?”

 

“ _For_ me.” Genji snapped, eyes still averted. “Not _to_ me. You did this _to_ me. _They_ saved me.”

 

“Saved you.” Hanzo’s voice was quietly mocking.

 

“You don’t get to judge me! Not about this! Not this time!” Genji squirmed in his seat despite the anger in his outburst.

 

Hanzo let out a long exasperated sigh,

 

“Why couldn’t you just-… Why is it never easy with you? You didn’t have to be a model Shimada, you just had to stop dragging the family name through the tabloids.”

 

“Oh, here we go.” Genji refound some of his confidence as this old topic came up, “Come on, let’s hear the justification for my murder based on a couple of parties I went to.”

 

“It was hardly _a couple of parties._ ”

 

“My mistake. So what is the number exactly? What’s the number that was the tipping point? When was the moment? _That Genji – he’s been to his sixteenth party – the number after which I can justifiably shoot him for being a nuisance to the family legacy_.”

 

Hanzo stood abruptly. Genji flinched. He heard a noise from beyond the door. Seconds later it slammed open and Gabriel Reyes walked in. He stood behind Genji’s chair and pointed a shotgun sideways into Hanzo’s face.

 

“ _Sit_ down.” His voice was a low, menacing growl.

 

Hanzo sat down, dark eyes smouldering.

 

Genji took the opportunity to put his hoodie back on and folded his arms across his chest.

 

“Everything okay here?” Reyes said to Genji, but kept his eyes on the other Shimada.

 

“Yes, Commander,” Genji replied in English, “Hanzo was just explaining to me why it was important that I was dead.”

 

Hanzo glared at him.

 

“If that’s the way this conversation’s headed, then this mission is off. Hanzo Shimada, you can pack your things and fuck off back to wherever you came from.” Reyes said evenly, but Genji could hear the anger behind his words.

 

Hanzo composed himself.

 

“I apologise, Commander Reyes. My temper got the better of me. It was not my intention to-”

 

“Apologise to _him_. Not me.”

 

Hanzo looked at Genji. Genji was sullen and slouched in his chair, but his heartbeat was racing. That was the one thing he so desperately wanted to hear, but he was loathe to show it.

 

“There is no apologising for a thing like this,” Hanzo had switched to Japanese as he looked at Genji, “It is not a thing that can be undone or forgiven. It is my responsibility to bear. I murdered my own brother. This burden is mine. I’m not asking for it to be taken away.”

 

“I’m still alive!” Genji snapped.

 

Reyes looked at him inquiringly, unable to follow the exchange.

 

“I think we’re done here, Commander.” Genji said coldly. “I will take down Yakuza for you, with this man if you wish it. But I will not spend a moment longer than necessary in his company.” Genji stood, “Good talk.” He switched back to Japanese, “Good to know you can stick me full of arrows and not change a wink.” Genji saw a shadow of hurt on Hanzo’s face, but ignored it and stalked out the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only appropriate response to this story is laughter or tears, or both at once. That is all.


	11. Setting Plans in Motion

Genji spent the next few days scowling and sulking. The watchpoint felt too small and everything frustrated him. He would take his katana down to the practice range and glare at anyone using the dojo until they left, then would spend two hours swinging his sword around, going through every kata he knew.

 

“Can we moving along the mission prep on the Hanamura front?” Jack said tentatively in a meeting with Reyes, Ana, and Moira. Reyes had insisted on having Moira attend as his second-in-command. If Jack was going to have Ana backing up his proposals, Reyes wanted someone with equal bite to shoot them down. Moira would have preferred to be in her laboratory, but she did find the interpersonal drama at the watchpoint amusing, if not also infuriating.

 

“It’s going the speed it needs to go.” Reyes stretched his legs. They were meeting in the cafeteria because they couldn’t decide whether to meet in the Blackwatch or Overwatch wing of the watchpoint. They regularly had to wave away staff and recruits who came in looking for a snack. “I want the research done thoroughly before we move in. This is the Yakuza on their own turf.”

 

“So are your operatives!” Jack pointed out. He waved Reyes down when he saw him sink into a frown, “But sure, if time’s what you need, then fine. It’s just that Genji Shimada is…”

 

“Is what?” Reyes folded his arms defensively.

 

“He nearly took off Torbjörn’s head in the practice range yesterday. He seems… out of control.”

 

“He’s not out of control. He’s just angry.”

 

“Like a mini Gabriel walking around the base.” Ana supplied. Jack and Gabriel both glared at her. She gave a cocky smile.

 

“And shouldn’t Hanzo Shimada be at this meeting?” Jack continued, “He’s the one who knows what we’re dealing with.”

 

“Ah, I can answer you there,” Moira put in, a thin smile on her lips. Reyes shifted a little awkwardly. “You see we can’t invite Hanzo Shimada, because the Commander put Genji in charge of the ground team. So we can’t invite one without inviting the other, and we can’t invite both because they’ll bring the house down. So instead the Commander has opted to have all the people _not_ going on the mission, meet and have a bit of chat about it.”

 

Reyes was squinting off to one side slightly, but didn’t deny the truth of Moira’s words.

 

“Right.” Jack said. “Do… you… need a hand organising them – it – the mission, I mean?”

 

“Got it mostly under control.” Reyes gave a stiff smile.

 

“Okay. So… what exactly is this meeting about?”

 

“Just keeping you up-to-date, Morrison. Like you asked.” There was a slightly terse tone to Gabriel’s voice that made Jack wary.

 

Ana put her hand to her head,

 

“This is ridiculous,” She stood up. “Gabriel, either you call the Shimada brothers in to this or we might as well all go sunbathe on the balcony of the communications tower.”

 

“Is that a good spot then?” Moira put in, “I’d kill for a bit of tan.”

 

“Alright,” Reyes interrupted. “Alright. But I don’t think this’ll be much more productive with them here. Ana, can you fetch Hanzo? The less time I spend around his smug murderous face, the better.” Reyes stamped off to find Genji.

 

Ana gave a long sigh and headed to the other exit.

 

When they returned with their respective Shimadas, Ana and Gabriel both wore faces of grim perseverance. Hanzo had his hair drawn back loosely and wore a comfortable but intricately designed kimono, tied carefully about his waist but leaving his bow arm easily accessible. Genji was swamped in another black hoodie. Both were eyeing each other like circling jackals from the moment they entered the canteen.

 

“Interesting place for a meeting,” Hanzo said as he seated himself at the lunch bench next to Ana.

 

“Lots of space to swing a sword,” Genji grated back at him, as he slouched down next to Reyes.

 

Jack ignored that and gave them both a smile,

 

“Thank you both for agreeing to help us. This is a serious matter and we are glad to have your expertise on hand.” Jack was about to go on, but remembered he’d handed this over to Gabriel. He shut his mouth and gestured to Reyes, giving him the floor.

 

Reyes pointing a finger at Hanzo,

 

“Give us a run down on the situation so everyone’s on the same page.”

 

Hanzo pursed his lips at the informality but tilted his head in consent. He purposefully avoided Genji’s eyes as he spoke,

 

“The Shimada Clan operates with a degree of freedom within a larger federated hierarchy of organised crime. Whilst our family is ancient and has long held lands in the township of Hanamura, the expansion of the megacity Akita into our lands brought with it territorial dispute that led to the merging of the Shimada Clan with the local Yakuza. Given our claim to the lands, our willingness to cooperate, and the tight control the Shimada had over Hanamura, our family retained many of its freedoms despite ultimately answering to an _Oyabun_.”

 

“ _Want to give them a whole history lesson on feudal Japan while you’re at it_?” Genji snapped in Japanese.

 

Hanzo gave him a look of mild irritation, then continued in English,

 

“The Shimada Clan have always prized themselves on their military prowess, often selling our talents, but never our secrets. Whilst we usually take more private contracts either within the organisation or occasionally beyond, during the Omnic Crisis our talents were in demand to deal with the machine uprising. In the course of the war, the clan amassed many Omnic parts, sometimes as trophies, but more often so that we could study our enemy in closer detail. The Shimada Clan were especially interested in the makeshift weaponry the Omnics were able to quickly develop, and also in the higher functions of thought process in the mechanical mind. When the crisis ended, much of our research was confined to our archives, and there was little need to refer to it unless specific assassinations were asked of us.” Hanzo shifted slightly in his seat and paused. Genji narrowed his eyes, noting a change and slight discomfort in his brother. “When I… first moved against the Shimada clan I did so from the shadows, taking out the elders of the clan who’s _traditional_ values often tied the hands of the clan _kumichō_.” The word ‘traditional’ was spat with particular venom. This surprised Genji, who had always felt Hanzo courted the older ways of their clan. “I began targeting those who would play essential roles in helping the clan keep its infrastructure. It was thus likely my targeted attacks that created the current problem. Lower ranking brothers in the clan, worried for their continued sustenance, began selling off clan treasures, including the not inconsiderable Omnic archive. I believe some of the buyers are within our organisation, but it is possible there are buyers further afield, including in Yakuza organisations other than our own.”

 

“ _You killed the clan elders_?”

 

“English only in the mission briefing, _estúpido_.” Reyes glowered at Genji.

 

“ _Of course. They demanded that I kill my own brother._ ” Hanzo retorted coolly.

 

Reyes face climbed through shades of anger.

 

Genji stared at his brother for a moment, then quickly made amends to the commander,

 

“Sorry, Commander, English only. I understand.”

 

“So, is the plan still to make contact with the Shimada sellers first?” Jack attempted to steer the meeting back on course.

 

“That would be my suggestion.” Hanzo replied. “It would make locating the missing items easier and quicker. When I attempted this on my own however, it was with mixed success.”

 

“They ran screaming before you got your answers?” Genji supplied.

 

Hanzo frowned,

 

“Something like this. They’ve mostly gone to ground, and the townsfolk have been most unforthcoming since I started…”

 

“Murdering them.” Genji finished.

 

Hanzo flashed him a dark look before continuing,

 

“Given Genji’s wayward past, I thought perhaps his seedy lowlife contacts might aid us locate the clan members that have gone to ground.”

 

“Seedy lowlife contacts?” Genji put on an expression of mock pondering, “I can’t think of any. Other than you of course, dear _a_ _ni_.”

 

“Alright, can it. I want comments pertinent to the mission and nothing else. That especially goes for you,” Reyes turned to Genji as he said this. Genji slumped back in his seat and glowered.

 

“What kind of risks are we talking?” Jack tried to co-ordinate with Reyes to keep the briefing going, “It’s been a while since you left, Hanzo, is there a risk of an organised response?”

 

“I highly doubt it. I took out most of the people capable of commanding the respect needed to unite the clan. It’s possible other clans in our organisation might be taking more rigorous action to sweep through the carcass of the Shimada now that our collapse is more open knowledge. But if so, this is all the more reason to return sooner. The Akita clans have learned to fear the dragon.”

 

Genji flinched. He folded his arms and tried to make himself smaller.

 

“What’s that, a pet name for yourself?” Moira pressed Hanzo, but he was unforthcoming.

 

Reyes stroked his beard, then leaned forward and interlocked his fingers,

 

“The other consideration holding up the mission is how far away we want the team on comms, and whether they need to be ready to go in as a second ground team.”

 

“I don’t need back up.” Genji said flatly, “I am good at killing people.”

 

“Yes, you're also a champ at getting yourself deep into enemy lines with no plans in place for extraction.” Moira put in irritably.

 

“I take care of myself. I can vanish as soon as my business is done.”

 

“Not if you’re taking Jesse McCree with you, you won’t,” Reyes mused.

 

“Jesse? On the mission?” Jack started, disbelief on his face.

 

“Please say that isn’t that man dressed as a cowboy.” Hanzo’s eyes were filled with tedium.

 

“Anyway,” Reyes ignored everyone and ploughed on, “The bigger problem is how close to put the second team. If we take the jet, it’s hard to remain inconspicuous. And the last thing we want is people catching a whiff of the name Overwatch whilst we’re operating.”

 

“Silence can be bought.” Hanzo said simply.

 

“With a well aimed shuriken.” Genji amended.

 

“With money, _manuke_.”

 

Genji glared at Hanzo.

 

“Right, well we can talk details another time, but a second team on comms in the jet will stand by. Preferably with a medic,” Reyes said through gritted teeth.

 

“I’m not a medic.” Ana and Moira said in unison. They narrowed their eyes at each other.

 

“I’d rather Angela wasn’t half way round the world,” Jack frowned, “But if it was absolutely necessary we could arrange for her to be on the second team, or at least to relocate to a watchpoint closer to the mission, that way she could continue to make use of a lab for the duration of the mission.”

 

“I don’t need Doctor Ziegler watching over everything I do,” Genji put in sullenly.

 

Moira gave Genji a tired look,

 

“To hear you tell it, you don’t need anyone for anything ever.”

 

“ _No changes there then._ ” Hanzo muttered under his breath in his native tongue.

 

“If you can draw up an estimate of how long this mission might take, I can go through the options with Angela and see how realistic it is to get her on standby. If that’s not going to work, we’ll have to pull in someone else instead.”

 

“Just putting a word in, but it’s always useful to have a sniper scoping out the scene for you, isn’t it, so why not have our very own Captain Amari covering the necessities.” Moira folded her arms.

 

“There will be a sniper.” Hanzo interjected.

 

Ana raised her eyebrows Moira’s way and folded her arms in a retaliatory manner. Moira muttered darkly under her breath.

 

“I’ll get you a time estimate.” Reyes cut through the disintegrating conversation again. “Right meeting adjourned, next time I’m only inviting fucking Morrison, the rest of you are a liability.” He stood up and slung his long overcoat on. “Genji. With me.”

 

Genji gave a huff and trooped after the commander, sparing a moment to shoot a cold glare at Hanzo.

 

The rest of them watch them leave.

 

“And like that it’s like the thundercloud passed over and went on its merry way.” Moira said, then stood and straightened her labcoat. “Well it’s been whale of a time, but I’m going to go do my real job, feel free not to call me next time.”

 

Ana watched her leave with one eyebrow still raised,

 

“So,” Ana turned to Hanzo, “A sniper?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“Who doesn’t like the way I brew tea.”

 

Hanzo glanced up,

 

“Merely different to what I’m used to,” He said carefully.

 

“Seems we have a lot to talk about, Mr Shimada.”

 

Once outside the canteen, Reyes turned and fixed Genji with a fierce look. Genji shrank back from it.

 

“Want to tell me what that was all about?”

 

Genji looked away,

 

“He just… Being near him makes me so angry. He just continues on like nothing’s happened. Like none of it mattered.”

 

“If he was acting like nothing happened, he wouldn’t be taking down his old family, would he.” It wasn’t really framed as a question. Reyes’ eyebrows were fierce. “When I gave you charge of this mission, you told me you could handle it. And that _whatever that was_ ,” He pointed back to the canteen door, “Wasn’t going to be a problem.”

 

“I was trying.”

 

“Couldn’t tell.”

 

Genji pulled his fingers up into his sleeves and looked at the floor. He didn’t care about irritating Hanzo, but disappointing the commander made him squirm inside.

 

“How about you sort yourself out and start acting your age, or I find someone else to lead this team. You do still want to lead it, right?”

 

“Yes, Commander.” Genji said quickly.

 

“Then don’t let me catch any more smartass comments in meetings, in English or Japanese.”

 

“Yes, Commander.”

 

***

 

Two days later, Reyes was overseeing a checklist in the cargo bay as non-military personnel ran about stocking the ORCA jet with requisitions.

 

Jack entered the bay and watched. He was reminded of an orchestra Reinhardt had once insisted he watch, conducted by a very zealous conductor. When there was a lull in the commotion he placed himself at Gabriel’s side.

 

“Anything I can help with?”

 

“Nope. All good.”

 

Since they’d been engaged in trying to keep the Shimada brothers from going for each others throats, they’d become something of a united front over the last few days.

 

Jack watched an enormous crate of Genji’s ration packs totter up the ORCA ramp and out of sight.

 

“You could be gone for quite some time with this,” Jack mused.

 

“Going to miss me, Morrison?” Gabriel didn’t look up from his datapad as he ticked off ‘Shimada baby food’ from his list of supplies.

 

Jack didn’t answer.

 

Gabriel looked at him. Jack blushed. Gabriel raised his eyebrows.

 

“Thanks for taking this operation off my hands,” Jack said quickly to cover up the moment, “I’ve been sleeping much better since it’s off my plate.”

 

“You weren’t sleeping well? Anxiety again?”

 

Jack twisted his hands behind his back and set his gaze on the scurrying to and fro. It had been a long time since he spoke to anyone about his mental health. There were lots of people he could talk to, but since becoming Strike Commander, it always felt like something he should keep to himself. He didn’t want Gabriel of all people to think he was incompetent.

 

“Ah. Just… you know. Um.” He scratched the back of his head. He’d never been good at lying. “Nothing that affects my capability.”

 

Reyes digested that. It irritated him, so he pulled apart his irritability until he found what was irking him.

 

“Jack, I’m not going to call out your leadership skills just because you get stressed.”

 

Jack squinted and glanced anywhere but at Reyes,

 

“Oh. OK.” He said in a small voice.

 

Reyes took him by the shoulder and turned him to face him. Jack wished he wouldn’t do that. It felt too familiar. And familiar always stirred up old memories and old feelings.

 

“Talk to me.”

 

“You’ve got enough to worry about.” Jack was still dodging Gabriel’s eyes.

 

“I’ve always got time for you.”

 

There was an awkward silence.

 

Jack was transported in his mind to better times. Times that felt safe, with large brown, scarred arms drawing him in close, and a beard tickling his ear whispering gentle, simple things that eased his worries. His chest clenched.

 

“Gabe, I can’t.” He said quietly.

 

“Just because we’re not together, doesn’t mean I stop caring. When are you going to get that into your thick head?” Gabriel was brusque but not fierce.

 

“I know,” Jack said quietly, “But it hurts.”

 

“It hurts talking to me?” Gabriel was confused.

 

Jack nodded.

 

Gabriel stepped closer to him. Jack could feel his breath warm on his face.

 

“And what do I have to do to change that?”

 

Jack’s breath caught in his throat. When he looked into Gabriel’s eyes they were warm, deep, inviting.

 

“Hey boss, can I bring all these?” Jesse McCree’s voice rung out through the cargo bay.

 

Jack and Gabriel took a quick step away from each other. Reyes turned a black glare on McCree who came round the back of the aircraft with an armful of different coloured serapes.

 

“I know Blackwatch missions we got a bit of a uniform for, but seeing as I’m mostly posin’ as a tourist for… the… next…” As McCree got closer he caught onto the commander’s death stare. He glanced between the commander and the Strike Commander who was shifting uncomfortably a few paces away. “Oh. _Oh._ Right. Uhh. I’ll just take these…” McCree hugged his serapes closer to him “… Up here.” He he gave an apologetic smile and hurried up the aircraft ramp.

 

“I should get going.” Jack said quickly.

 

“Right. Yeah.” Gabriel watched him leave, and unreadable expression on his face.

 

Jesse peered out of the aircraft’s cargo hold checking it was safe to come down. He caught sight of the commander, alone. Reyes pointed at him, then mimed zipping his mouth shut, then drew a finger across his neck. Jesse gave him a thumbs up and mouthed _gotcha._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Overwatch is full of competent professionals, can u tell?
> 
> Thanks for all your comments by the way, I read them all and take them into my broken heart while I sob over Shimada bros. Also you just know Jesse would always put his foot in the wrong moment of a conversation like that.


	12. The Outsider

The ORCA BW-001 was spacious compared to almost all other Overwatch aircraft, but with five people and a pilot on board for a twenty-four hour flight, two of whom were the estranged Shimada brothers, it was already feeling cramped.

 

In the end, Reyes had brought Ana along to form a second team with him. Apart from the fact that she was the only one who could hold a conversation with Hanzo, she could also help prevent the brothers from fighting, and when it came to the mission itself, she was one of the few people Reyes actually didn’t mind spending company with.

 

Genji had found a large cupboard with a slat door that rolled down from above, tossed all its original contents onto the floor, and summarily taken the space over as his own personal living quarters. There were bunks enough for everyone, but Reyes wasn’t going to force anyone to sleep in a sensible place. Besides, the longer Genji was out of sight, the more civil his brother became.

 

The bunks were delved like honeycombs into the walls of the ship living quarters. A small curtain could be drawn across for privacy, but otherwise the cell consisted of a bed, a strip reading light on its cabin ceiling, a coat hook, and a small shelf for personal belongings. Hanzo looked immediately at home in the spartan arrangement. He laid a fine patterned blanket on his bed and smoothed away the creases. He set a single sake jar on his shelf, and hung his bow horizontal on the coat hook. He sat crosslegged in his new abode and watched everyone else.

 

Reyes had already hit his head twice as he pulled off his enormous boots. Several shotguns and at least three belts worth of ammunition were littered on the floor near his bunk. Jesse had chosen a high bunk first, and now looked like he was regretting it as he poked his nose over the edge and realised the commander was in the bunk below. His bed was a pile of multi-coloured blankets he looked like he was trying to covertly hide from the commander. Ana took the cell next to Hanzo and laid it full of photographs, a tiny holoprojector, and small trinkets from her homeland. She caught Hanzo looking and gave him a smile.

 

“My daughter.” She handed him a photograph of a young smiling girl with bright eager eyes and braids in her hair.

 

“She has a kind smile.”

 

“She did.” Ana took the photo back and set it on her shelf, “She’s six foot something now and spends all her time glaring at her poor mother.”

 

Hanzo nodded. His mind was on a similar smiling child who had always been so full of energy, so admiring, so eager to play games with him, so different from the part-man part-machine hiding in the storage cupboard opposite him.

 

“They do not stay the same forever.”

 

“No, they don’t.”

 

Jesse dangled his head upside down into Reyes’ cell.

 

“Boss,” He whispered, “Did we bring any Jack Daniels?”

 

“Jesse, this is your one warning. You stick your head down from that bunk again and you’re losing it.”

 

Jesse hastily pulled his head back up. A moment later his muffled voice chirped up again,

 

“You didn’t answer the question.”

 

“No one’s drinking on the job.”

 

“That Hanzo Shimada is,” Jesse put his face dangerously close to the edge of his bunk, “He’s got a little bottle of his own ‘n’ all.”

 

“So go ask him to share.” Reyes propped up a pillow, and sat back with a paper map of Akita. He rolled his shoulders and cricked his neck. He hated these ORCA bunks. They were far too small to accommodate his bulk.

 

“Maybe I’ll do just that!” Jesse exclaimed. And then promptly didn’t. After a few moments, he said, “I for sure know you got a stash o’ whiskey here somewhere, Boss, so don’t think I ain’t going to find it.” He grumbled and mumbled to himself. Reyes could hear him muttering about how his hat wouldn’t fit on the coat hook.

 

They took a meal together three hours into the flight. Jesse helped Ana pull up a table from where it was stored in the aircraft floor then laid it with four ready meals from the in-flight refrigerator.

 

“Four?” Hanzo asked. McCree and Reyes ignored him, but Ana took pity.

 

“Genji doesn’t eat as we do.”

 

Reyes looked at McCree then jerked his head towards the cupboard. Jesse mouthed _why me?_ at him, and then edged up to Genji’s cupboard. He gave it a sharp rap.

 

“Uh. We’re having a bite to eat, want to sit with us?”

 

There was no reply.

 

Jesse remembered the unconscious body he’d dragged from a not-so-different cupboard very recently.

 

“Can you at least answer so I don’t go athinkin’ you’re dead in there again?”

 

“I don’t want to sit and watch you eat, _Jesse._ ” Genji said coldly.

 

McCree shrugged at Reyes and came back to join them at the table.

 

They sat eating in silence, using plastic forks to attack a lukewarm paella. There was total quiet as they chewed.

 

"God, this is bad." Reyes said at last. There was a relax of shoulders as it looked like everyone else was thinking the same thing.

 

 

“When we arrive can we get a takeout? Or can you cook for us, Boss? He’s a mean cook.” Jesse noted to Hanzo.

 

“I’m a mean cook when I’ve got the ingredients and spices I want to hand. I have a feeling I ain’t going to be making cajun chicken in-” He leaned back on his chair and grabbed the map he’d been looking at, “What state is this? County? Region? Whatever you called them,” He asked Hanzo.

 

“The Akita Prefecture.” Hanzo replied, picking distastefully at his meal.

 

“Anything we should know about it?” Reyes tossed the map aside and shovelled food into his mouth, ignoring the taste and swallowing whole. He’d eaten much worse in his SEP days.

 

Hanzo shrugged,

 

“Nothing that immediately comes to mind. Every prefecture has its own culture, its own traditions, its own foods, sake, sweets.”

 

“Sake. That what you got in your lil bottle over there?” McCree put in.

 

Hanzo gave him a withering look then continued moving rice around in his plastic tray.

 

“Perhaps I can buy a little Akita tea, see what all the fuss is about,” Ana said.

 

Hanzo gave a slight smile,

 

“I would be happy to assist in the choice and the preparation, if you desired.”

 

Ana nodded thoughtfully,

 

“Maybe I could get some for Fareeha too… Although, I’m not sure if she still drinks tea.”

 

“She drinks black coffee.” Reyes said after he finished an enormous mouthful.

 

Ana gave him a disapproving look,

 

“You were a bad influence on her.”

 

“Hey, _I_ drink black coffee,” Jesse protested.

 

“He’s a bad influence on you too,” Ana said.

 

Reyes gave a huff of a chuckle.

 

Genji opened the shutter of his cupboard a fraction and looked at everyone eating. Something was tight and aching in his chest as he watched them smiling and eating with his brother. A helplessness and a strong pang of alienation gripped him. He swallowed and shut the shutter, rolling onto his back and staring up into the red-lit darkness.

 

He lay there for a long time, listening to the slightly muffled conversation. As he did, he felt as though he were lying on a sheet of ice that had cracked, and broken away from the float, and now drifted further and further away into a dark, rough sea.

 

A line of text flashed across his vision.

 

\--- _You have been invited to private chatroom ClydebankIWW [_ _20:01_ _]_

 

It was followed by another:

 

 _\--- Currently one (1) other user_ _(s)_ _in chatroom: Users: @Goddess-Theia (Admin)_

 

_\--- Enter chatroom? (Y/N)_

 

Genji hesitated. He wasn’t in a hurry to earn the commander’s ire again, but just then, he needed something, a lifeline, someone who would understand.

 

\--- _Welcome @cyborgninja2040 (guest)_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:02]: Sorry for the intrusion. I hope this isn’t a bad time._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:02]: no its good. Im glad 2 hear from u. was worried something might have happened 2 u._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:03]: I’m guessing things didn’t go so well with your boss._

 

Genji hesitated. This was exactly the sort of thing the commander had told him to be more careful about. But the commander was eating paella with Hanzo, which suddenly made Genji feel like everything was fair game.

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:04]: no. he didnt see things my way. Said he would try and be fair though, for what its worth._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:04]: It’s worth very little, I’m afraid. My comrades and I have got wind that the government has been tipped off that there’s a Titan working in the Glasgow shipyards. I told my comrades to leave, but it’s proving difficult for them to abandon me._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:04]: oh fuck_

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:05]: I’m rly sorry Theia_

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:05]: what r u going 2 do? can u run?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:06]: I’m not physically mobile. We couldn’t get the upgrades in time. But yes, I can run._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:06]: Actually, that’s why I’m talking to you. I need your help._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:06]: me?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:06]: Yes. Everyone else I know will be on the government watch list. And the file transfer will be much more dangerous and detectable to a conventional personal computer._

 

Genji hesitated again. He could hear his heart beating fast.

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:07]: file transfer?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:07]: I want to transfer my consciousness over to you._

 

Genji blinked. He was getting way in over his head.

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:08]: It’s perfectly safe. It’ll be under zip, so you can scan anything you want if you’re worried about viruses. It’ll also be encrypted, and I’ll send you the decryption key separately._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:09]: this isn’t really my area of expertise. what am I getting into here? what exactly r u asking from me?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:09]: I’m asking you to receive a file with data containing the last saved state of my consciousness. You could then keep it on you, unopened, until you find a suitable receptacle to upload it into. It will be as if I have gone into a long sleep, and I will awaken in a new body. I will be able to live, even if I am destroyed at my current location at Clydebank._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:10]: u want me to find u a new body?_

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:10]: It doesn’t have to be another Titan Class, just needs to be something with enough processing power and RAM for me to work with._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:11]: um. idk. I dunno. I dnt really know u. this seems super dodgy._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:12]: I’m asking you to save my life._

 

Genji put his organic hand to forehead, reaching for a brow that was hidden under a steel mask. He lay back and stared at the darkened cupboard ceiling.

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:14]: y trust me with this? u dnt even know me or who I work 4. u dnt know anything about me and ur trusting me with ur whole life._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:15]: I do not have many options at this stage. But also, you are still young, and do not yet know the full extent of the divisive hatred that runs between humans and Omnics. I do not know any other Omnics and I am afraid to trust humans. You are the closest I have to someone who might understand my fear._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:16]: I was a human u know. I was one of them._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:16]: Something tells me a lot has happened to you since then._

 

Genji closed his eyes.

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:18]: Alright. I’ll do it._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:18]: The transfer will take some time._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:18]: that’s ok. got time to kill._

 

_> Goddess-Theia [20:19]: Thank you._

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:20]: we all need someone to offer us a lifeline now and again_

 

\--- _You have been_ _sent encrypted file ‘theia-ghost.zip’ (_ _5.6YB)_ _[_ _20:01_ _]_

 

_\--- Start download? (Y/N)_

 

_> cyborgninja2040 [20:21]: wait wtf is YB?_

 

 _> Goddess-Theia [2_ _0:21_ _]:_ _Y_ _ottabyte._ _Like I said, this might take some time._

 

_ >cyborgninja2040 [20:21]: how long do u mean? And do I have enough space? _

 

_ >Goddess-Theia [20:22]: Only one way to find out I suppose. _

 

_\--- (Y)_

 

_\--- Estimated download time: (8 days)_

 

_\--- Download at 0.008%_

 

_ >cyborgninja2040 [20:23]: … _

 

_ >cyborgninja2040 [20:23]: it says 8 days _

 

_ >Goddess-Theia [20:24]: Good. That’s quite fast. You must have some good hardware. _

 

_ >cyborgninja2040 [20:24]: 8 days is fast?? what if ur dead by then??? _

 

_ >Goddess-Theia [20:26]: I’ve already uploaded to a temporary remote server. It should remain secure for that duration of the transfer . _

 

_ >Goddess-Theia [20:26]: One more thing, cyborgninja2040, please promise me, some day, when you have the chance, you’ll find me a body so that I can live again? _

 

_ >cyborgninja2040 [20:27]: ok _

 

_ >cyborgninja2040 [20:27]: I mean I cant promise itll be fancy or anything, but i’ll do my best _

 

_ >Goddess-Theia [20:27]: Thank-you. Until the next life, then. Goodbye, my friend. _

 

\--- _@_ _Goddess-Theia_ _(A_ _dmin_ _)_ _has left_ _chatroom ClydebankIWW [_ _20:2_ _8_ _]_

 

Genji shifted himself so that he was sitting with his back to the wall. He scratched his head and let out a long breath. In the very top right of his vision was a tiny line of text _2_ _0_ _:_ _2_ _9_ | _Download at_ _0.0_ _6_ _%_. In eight days he would have the consciousness of a Titan Class Omnic stored inside him. He shook his head. A lot of people were going to be furious with him if they found out.

 

He slipped back down in his cell and opened the rolling door a crack. Hanzo was helping clear the table.

 

“Please, allow me.” He took Ana’s tray for her and stacked it with his own.

 

 _Fucker,_ Genji thought. But was again stirred to melancholy when he saw the easy smile Ana gave his brother and the way Hanzo was already navigating his way around the commander and Jesse. _It’s just one mission. It’s just one mission._ He closed his eyes tightly. _He’d be a better Blackwatch agent than you._ Genji’s eyes snapped open. He wasn’t going to let his old doubts and insecurities follow him to Blackwatch, not when being a part of it was all he had.

 

“No worries, I got this.”

 

Genji turned his face so that he could watch McCree try to take the trays off Hanzo.

 

“Please.” Hanzo said firmly.

 

“You’re uh… you’re a guest, and the boss always makes me do these on missions anyway. Says it’s character building haha.”

 

“Then I shall build some character.” Hanzo took the trays and left for the small washroom. McCree was left standing awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

 

“Not quite how I imagined he’d be.” Jesse said to Ana.

 

Genji watched the exchange with growing trepidation. He felt foolish, and like a child again, desperately trying to measure up to a standard set so high he could only fail. _He’s just washing dishes. Pull yourself together._ But it wasn’t just that. It wasn’t just any one thing. It was the way Hanzo fitted in, could eat and drink and exchange stories with them without his self-confidence being riddled with doubt. I t was the way he held himself and conducted himself – always efficient, never saying more than he needed to. I t was the way he was a single whole person, so sure of himself, while Genji was… What? _What?_ And like that his body didn’t feel part of him, the things attached to him were enormous metal appendages, suffocating a small broken body still lying in a pool of blood, with wide, wide, disbelieving eyes unashamedly sending tears down to mix with so much blood.

 

_If you’d just listened. You were always told. But you never listened. You brought this upon yourself. You were given fair warning. But I didn’t know – I didn’t know it would be like this. I would have changed, I could have changed. I could have been more like him. Or tried at least. If I’d just done what I was told… It’s my fault. It’s my fault. I wanted to blame someone else, but they told me from the start I had to step up. And I just kept running away. And now… I did this to myself._

 

He shut the little slit window and curled in on himself.

 

He lay like that, facing the wall, for a long time. He lay until people stopped talking and stopped moving and he could only hear the hum of the aircraft engine reverberating through the walls.

 

He silently lifted the slat door open. The living quarters were bathed in the soft blue glow of the emergency lighting strips. The table had been put away, and the privacy curtains were drawn across each bunk. All the reading lights were off, and there was a rhythmic sound of breathing that made the room feel alive.

 

Genji got up. He felt strange, disconnected, like he was teetering on the top of a tall tower of metal. He wasn’t sure what to do. He stepped over towards the commander’s bunk. _Don’t wake him. You’re always waking him, disturbing him. He’s not your father. You’re father’s dead._ But Genji needed someone just then.

 

Reyes was sleeping lightly, his mind was flicking through broken dreamscapes. Old battles and tactical mistakes rose in his sleep, but it seemed each mistake he made wound up with Jack Morrison shot, and looking at him mortified as he bled out onto the ground. He twisted in his bed.

 

“Commander?”

 

He jerked in his sleep but heard that small voice again.

 

“Commander?”

 

He snapped awake and reached for a shotgun. Before he found one his hand met the curtain. He tore this back and saw Genji, kneeling on the floor near his bed, his eyes filled with a wild look. Reyes took a second, pulling himself back out of the dream. He gathered himself, then gave his attention to the young man before him.

 

“Sorry to wake you.” There was a strange tone to Genji’s voice, and the commander noticed his organic hand was shaking slightly. “I just… I just thought you should know. It’s about this mission.”

 

Reyes was careful to keep his face very even.

 

“I just thought you should know,” Genji continued, “I shouldn’t lead it. The mission, that is. It’s- you see… I don’t actually have the expertise, and the others do. So it should be one of them. Actually, it should be H… it should be Hanzo leading the mission.” Genji continued in harried whisper, “He’s done lots of things like this before. He’s very good. And it should be him. That’s all I have to say. Goodnight.”

 

“Genji.” The commander said gently. Genji looked at him, still with that wild look in his eyes. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing wrong, Commander. Just. I-it’s an important mission. And I don’t want to mess it up for you. And I’m not even really here. Not really. Just bits.” He gave a nervous laugh, “Just bits of me are here. And maybe not even the right bits. So it’s risky. Trusting me. And I don’t have a good track record… for responsibility. But Hanzo. He does.”

 

“I don’t want Hanzo leading my mission,” The commander held eye contact, “I want you to lead it. Genji Shimada. The man I can trust because I’ve seen him in action.”

 

“Not… man, though, Commander, am I. I’m like them. The one’s who’ve been cut up and put for sale on the Blackmarket. That could be me. Couldn’t it. So, not really a man.”

 

Reyes stood up. He pulled on a pair of heavy black cargo pants over his pajamas and fished a tank top out of his bag,

 

“Come with me,” He said, tugging the top on.

 

He opened the door to the cockpit and made sure Genji followed him. Light flooded in through the window and made Genji blink after the darkened living quarters.

 

“Ray, where are we?” Reyes came up behind the pilot, a young man with a thick beard and a red and white flight jacket.

 

“Just… flying over Almaty, at the moment, Commander.”

 

“Almaty? Kazakhstan?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“What’s the time down there?”

 

“Early morning, sir. About six AM, sun’s just rising.” The pilot pointed to the increasing light coming strident over the plain of clouds beneath them.

 

“Put us down on the outskirts.”

 

“Sir?”

 

“We talked about a refuel stop, this’ll do. And catch yourself a break.”

 

“Commander,” Genji interrupted.

 

“You,” Reyes pointed at him, “Shut up.” Reyes leaned over the pilot’s shoulder. “Try to put us down gently, don’t want to disturb folks in the back too much.”

 

They alighted just as the morning came in strong brilliant colours of auburn and treacle gold, touching the tips of a forest growing thick on a grey hill.

 

“Follow me.” Reyes said to Genji.

 

Genji followed him.

 

It was cold outside the aircraft, Genji could feel the hairs on his arm prickle in a chill wind. They’d set down in a clearing surrounded by dense forest. Reyes led them through the dark scrub and conifer boughs until the roofs of a suburban settlement appeared before them. He led them on until their feet met the road. Then he stopped and sat down on the curb.

 

“Sit.” He ordered.

 

Genji sat.

 

He glanced around. The buildings were small and smart, with white exteriors and steep roofs all painted different colours. Crusts of old snow lingered on their slopes and dusted the streets. Genji wasn’t sure what he was meant to be looking at. Back the way they had come, the wooded hill shielding the ORCA was crowned with an enormous television tower, stretching several hundred metres upward. He wondered if the commander had brought him here to look at a tower. If so, he wasn’t impressed, there were plenty of towers in Tokyo that outshone this one.

 

His attention was brought back to the street when he saw a woman wrapped in a shawl drop a basket. Paper parcels came tumbling out of the basket, and small fat sausages spilled out of the paper parcels. Genji immediately stood to help her. Reyes put a hand on his arm, stopping him.

 

“But-”

 

“Sit.”

 

Genji reluctantly sat back down.

 

There was a clink of metal and a humanoid Omnic loosely clad in thick, material wrought with spiral patters, hurried out of a nearby house. The machine spoke the woman’s language and crouched down with her, rescuing the sausages, rolling them neatly back up in their paper, and placing them in the basket. The two exchanged words, then went on their way. Genji watched in silence.

 

Over the next twenty minutes, Genji saw a dozen or more so Omnics of different shapes and sizes leave houses and pass by their human counterparts undisturbed.

 

“I know why you brought me here,” Genji broke the silence between them.

 

“Do you?” Reyes asked.

 

“I have heard of places like this, where Omnics and humans live alongside each other. But it doesn’t change the fact that I am neither, Commander. I feel like I am a small broken thing, the remains of a person strapped to the top of a metal tower. The things below me aren’t me. I am an arm, half a rib cage, bits of a skull, floundering on a pile of scrap iron that bears no relation to me. It holds me upright, wraps its iron fittings around me, suffocating me. I am back on the floor in the castle, writhing and dying. These things aren’t me, Commander. They are computers and metal shaped like a human figure, but just because you graft it onto my body, it doesn’t make it me. It hasn’t seen the things I’ve seen. It hasn’t walked in the places I’ve walked. It’s never set foot in my country or my city. You call all this thing next to you Genji, but Genji is a little bit of meat. Like those sausages rolling on the floor. Genji is one of those piloting a… a Jaeger.”

 

“Wait you lost me on that last bit.”

 

“A Jaeger. An Evangelion. A big… fuck off mech suit.”

 

“Right, gotcha.”

 

They sat as the street bustle grew thicker and the sun grew stronger and the wind tickled their skin with the wintery chill of far off steppes.

 

“Right.” Reyes slapped his legs and stood. “See that tower?” He pointed at the concrete television tower. Genji nodded. “Climb that. I’ll pick you up from the top in the ORCA.”

 

He strode off.

 

Genji jumped to his feet,

 

“Commander! You’re not serious-!”

 

Reyes turned on him. His eyes flashed and his mouth was a thin grim line. He looked very much serious. Genji quailed under the stare.

 

“Do as your told.”

 

Reyes marched off again.

 

Genji stood standing still. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being abandoned. He turned his attention to the concrete tower. It was a long way up the hill. He looked back at the commander, who was already almost swallowed by the treeline. Feared lurched in Genji’s chest. He set off at a run.

 

He reached the forest in moments, but his progress was slowed by having to slalom in and out of treetrunks. The ground was semi-frozen and unforgiving underfoot. The slope was steep enough that loose hard dirt caused him to slip as he ran. Thickets of hard thorns and wily scrub cut up his path. He leapt into a low tree branch and ran along it. He jumped to the next and found it easier to move through the low branches than the thick undergrowth beneath.

 

When he reached the top of the hill he was breathing hard. A glass and concrete building encircled the base of the tower. Genji wondered if he could just take a lift to the top. As he paused to catch his breath, he heard the roar of engines. Treetops flailed madly and the ORCA rose from the earth. Genji’s eyes widened. He ran, jumped, somersaulted, caught the roof of the circular building, pulled himself up, hit the roof and kept running. The tower reared as a solid grey mast before him, smooth and devoid of purchase. Genji didn’t have time to think about that. The nanoparticles coating his metallic body allowed him to grip that sheer face of the tower. He began to climb the concrete tower, feet and hands working in tandem. Before long, his organic arm began to seize up with the effort. The air was cold here. He paused, feet and right arm still gripping the tower. He gave his left arm a shake and windmilled it in the air.

 

The forest was far below him now. He could see the bright roofs of Almaty stretching away beyond the trees. The ORCA was rising slowly, jets firing at a gradual burn as it climbed in altitude. There was a snapping wind that made his nostrils burn with sharp chill air. When he breathed out he could see plumes of air snatched away from him. _Come on._ He opened and closed his his fingers, squeezing circulation back into them.

 

He began again, leaping up the concrete surface. He reached an observation room set halfway up the tower and took a moment to stare inside curiously. The glare of his red eyes glanced back off the glass reflection. He saw a figure inside jump when they saw him. Before they could investigate, he was gone, climbing higher and higher.

 

The ORCA rose behind him, and soon he was racing its jets. He felt an elation as the world grew smaller beneath him and the aircraft struggled to keep pace with him. Soon the tower thinned to barely a meter diameter. The wind was snapping fierce and brutally cold around him now. Twinkles of ice collected on his mask. The houses below were specks the size of his fingernails. The tower swayed in the wind. Genji’s eyes were bright with the thrill. He remembered climbing to the roof of a highrise in Tokyo after a dare at a party. That had been smaller and less steep than this, but it had felt so invigorating to climb and climb and reach the roof of the world and look down to see it spread like a map below.

 

He reached the top of the tower and crouched on it’s tiny pinnacle. The ORCA was still rising to meet him. The landscape below was brown and white where the rugged creases of snow scudded hills shrugged through the landscape. Almaty was a haven coiled at the feet of mountains. Far to the north the brilliant turquoise blue of a lake scattered sunlight on the horizon. He turned on the spot, careful to keep his grip as a roaring wind attempted to topple him. Behind him were enormous steep jagged mountain peaks. Their heads were snagged in snow and cut from hard black rock. Clouds hovered half way up them, and Genji from his meagre tower was barely a fraction of the height of their foothills. Their yawning dark cliff faces were immense, with deep slumbering shadows that spilled blue mist into hidden diving valleys. He sat, insignificant before them as the ORCA hovered over head and the cargo hold doors slid open.

 

He leapt and caught the cargo opening. The roar of the jets was deafening in his ear and the flap of wind pounded his exposed skin. He took one last look through the square hole that opened hundreds of metres onto the land below, then the doors slid shut. The air became quiet and warm.

 

Genji stayed crouching for a few moments, regaining his breath and letting the feeling return to his arm. He realised he was not alone and glanced up.

 

The commander was leaning in the doorway, arms folded.

 

“Still feel like a sausage in a Jaeger?” Reyes asked.

 

Genji turned his hands over, looking at them in a strange new light.

 

“’Cause it looked to me like it was just Genji Shimada out there climbing that tower. Nothing more, nothing less.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Genji aesthetic is existential nihilism + anime references. 
> 
> I spent a long time reading about nanoparticles and Kazakhstan for this chapter because I can never just make life easy for myself. I at least managed to mostly set this story in places I’m familiar with -.- I was actually writing an article about identity and transhumanism whilst doing this chapter, so it was a lot fun to have some intersection between work and stories.
> 
> tumblr = https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/


	13. A Cowboy in Japan

They alighted in a private helipad in the Akita megacity, loaned off a suspicious contact Hanzo named only as Kaz. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Genji, but he’d never been that interested in keeping company with the people his brother knew. They tended to be boring, in his opinion, interested in expanding business empires rather than throwing a good party.

 

Genji had slept better after his escapade in Kazakhstan. He crouched waiting in a corner as the others gathered their belongings together. He had all he needed – a few liquid ration packs and his daisho. Ana came over and knelt on one knee next to him.

 

“Be sure to let me know when you’re entering a possibly dangerous situation and give me a chance to scope it out for you first, no running in head first, no matter how fast you are, ok?”

 

He nodded.

 

“And Genji,” She looked at him with serious eyes, “Don’t take any unreasonable risks, as a team leader you need to make sure you co-ordinate your team with Commander Reyes and I. Keep us abreast of the situation, let us know where you’ll be at all times, and call in back up if there’s ever any doubt as to the safety of your team.”

 

“Yes, Captain.” He said quietly.

 

Ana looked at him. She sighed, Genji was always unreadable. Sometimes she thought he looked sad, but most of the time all she could get from him was a simmering intense anger, waiting for the next moment he was permitted to burst into action. She hoped Reyes wasn’t making a mistake in bringing him back here.

 

“McCree, with me.” Reyes beckoned Jesse over. He took him firmly by one shoulder and steered him into the cockpit away from the others.

 

Uncertainty flicked over Jesse’s face,

 

“M’I in trouble?” He asked, wincing a little under the commander’s tight grip.

 

“No.” Reyes frowned in thought, “Just… keep an eye on Genji.”

 

“Keep an eye on him? What, he gonna explode or somethin’?”

 

Reyes rolled his eyes,

 

“Look out for him. When I’m not around.”

 

“Aw, Boss! It’s so sweet when you get all worried for us younguns- _ah_ -” The grip on his shoulder tightened painfully, “Gotcha, gotcha, _ow ow ow_.”

 

Reyes let him go.

 

“He needs someone checking on him. There’s a lot going on in that head of his. I’m counting on you, Jesse. Don’t let me down.”

 

Jesse’s face went serious and he nodded,

 

“’Course. You got it, Boss. Genji’s one of us. I won’t let nothin’ happen to him.”

 

Reyes nodded, though his brow was still furrowed.

 

“Hey,” Jesse tilted back his hat so that he could look the commander in the eyes, “I got this. I’ll take good care of him. Like you did for me back in the day. ‘Kay?”

 

Reyes gave a curt nod and motioned for them to return to the living quarters. Once they had, he drew himself up and spoke to the room,

 

“There’s good signal here and we’re in a good location, so Captain Amari and I are going to sit tight here for now. If we relocate and set up a new HQ, we’ll let you know. We’ve got permanent comms with Genji, but you two,” He indicated Jesse and Hanzo, “Have been given earpieces as well. Don’t fuck off on your own, listen to what Genji says, he’s team leader. First priority is finding those Shimada contacts who are selling off the old family heirlooms. Questions.”

 

There was silence.

 

McCree slowly raised his hand.

 

“This better be a real fucking question, Jesse.”

 

McCree slowly lowered his hand.

 

“Alright, _what_?” Reyes asked anyway.

 

“I was just gonna say, I’m famished, and weren’t you gonna cook us up Cajun chicken?”

 

“See this?” Ana stepped in and held up a pistol, “Know what this is?”

 

“Yes, Ma’am, that’s a sleep dart, Ma’am.”

 

“Unless you want a shot of this to your behind, Jesse McCree, you better stop acting the clown.”

 

“Jeez, I really _am_ hungry though,” Jesse muttered to the Shimada brothers as they took the exit ramp down onto the helipad. Bright neon lights winked in the dark. The air was cool but pleasant. The ramp hissed as it rolled back up into the ORCA. Genji was hit with a wave of nostalgia. He looked around him, as if in a dream, familiar towers and signs bringing back startlingly clear memories.

 

A door in an elevator shaft opened and a middle-aged man in a suit walked out, flanked by two heavy set bodyguards.

 

“Follow my lead,” Hanzo said immediately, “Stay quiet and stay behind me.”

 

Jesse opened his mouth slightly and looked at Genji. Genji was quiet however and already moving into Hanzo’s shadow, customary hoodie darkening all his features and sending him into obscurity.

 

“ _Mr Kaz,_ ” Hanzo greeted in his native tongue, bowing.

 

The middle-aged man returned the bow,

 

“ _Mr Shimada. An honour. Who are your friends?”_

 

Hanzo gave a faint smile,

 

“ _They come to our home during the cheery blossom season. A harmless tourist visit.”_

 

“ _A harmless tourist visit that required a private helipad, hmm I wonder.”_ Kaz’s eyes twinkled with a canny look.

 

“ _A rich tourist can land where he pleases. Have I not paid you well enough, Mr Kaz?_ ”

 

“ _That you have, old friend, that you have.”_

 

“ _Then perhaps you could arrange us a bite to eat and a car to take me to my ancestral home. When last I recalled, hospitality was a forte of the Katagami Clan.”_

 

Kaz gestured for them all to follow him to the elevator. Jesse glanced at Genji, trying to gauge what was going on beyond the polite smiles and exchanged bows.

 

“ _That is so, that is so, Mr Shimada. But in Akita we hear strange things about the Shimada these days. There are rumours that the head of the clan slipped back into the ancient ways of his people, became a ninja even to his own blood and kin. They talk of a dragon who stalks the night and the Shimada Clan scattered to the wind.”_

 

Genji shifted uncomfortably, but Hanzo was even and easy in his response.

 

“ _Do they now? A good thing they do not say such things to my face._ ”

 

There was silence after that.

 

They rode the lift down to a large lobby, brightly lit and decorated with small cultivated trees. A fish tank with a single blue-ringed octopus within slunk its way across angular pebbles. Genji stopped before it and watched while his brother sorted out the details. McCree came over and hovered at his elbow.

 

“I see watcha mean about him kinda taking over things,” He muttered sidelong to Genji, “I’m getting the feeling he likes to be in charge.”

 

Genji nodded.

 

When he was done making arrangements, Hanzo came over to them.

 

“We will eat here and then drive straight over to Hanamura.”

 

“Is it wise to go straight there?” Genji was not in a hurry to set foot in Shimada Castle again.

 

“Yes. I must see what remains there, and you need clothes.”

 

“Clothes?” Genji asked.

 

“If you’re going to be reacquainting with old contacts you need to look more yourself. Your clothes are still in your room.”

 

Genji felt cold inside,

 

“I… I can’t pretend that I’m… normal.” He struggled to get that out.

 

“Of course you can.” Hanzo was almost disinterested as he said this, seemingly indifferent to Genji’s concerns. His eyes were on some restaurant staff, serving guests in the next room over beyond a glass wall. “We’ll get some of your old suits and loud jackets. Your face will be the only difficulty, but you always did have your eccentricities.”

 

“If Genji thinks it’s not good to go to Hanamura just yet, p’raps we should reconsider,” McCree said, trying to support his friend.

 

Hanzo gave him a cold, bored look.

 

“It’s fine, Jesse.” Genji said quickly.

 

They ate in a corner of the restaurant with a spread that made Jesse’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. Everything was served in tiny separate bowls all different shapes and sizes. Jesse wasn’t sure what half of what he was eating was, but it all tasted good. He was given a pair of chopsticks to eat with, and was particularly proud of the fact that he managed alright.

 

“I used to run with this crowd back in the day,” He said around a mouthful, to a table otherwise devoid of conversation, “Real posh lady used to head it, and whenever we got Chinese takeout she’d be all- ‘Jesse McCree you learn to use those goddamn chopsticks or your next cut o’ gold goes to B.O.B.’. I mean I liked B.O.B. ‘n’ all but boy that got me learnin’ to use chopsticks fast if you get me.”

 

Genji stared at him silently, red eyes occasionally glancing wistfully at the food before McCree. Hanzo was also silent, chopsticks darting to several different bowls at times before they went to his mouth. Soon Jesse was left eating alone. Hanzo glanced around the restaurant impatiently.

 

“What’s the time?” Hanzo said aloud.

 

“You know what time it is.” Jesse gave him a wink.

 

Hanzo stared at him.

 

Jesse blushed,

 

“Sorry. Uh- old catchphrase o’mine. Not funny outa context.” He winced when Hanzo kept staring at him, “And I guess kinda rude if you was really just wantin’ to know the-… I’m just gonna shut up ‘n’ eat my dinner.”

 

Genji’s attention turned to the digits in the top of his vision: _22:42_ | _Download at 13.53%._

 

“It’s ten forty-two.” He said to Hanzo.

 

Hanzo gave a nod, then sat stroking his beard and looking out the black tall window to the noisy street beyond.

 

Genji desperately wanted to pick up one of the bowls and sniff it. His sense of smell still worked well and often felt a bit like taste. It had been so long since he’d tasted anything, and whiffs of his favourite dishes just before him made his mouth water. He held his composure however and watched sadly as McCree tried to finished everything in front of him as quickly as he could with his clumsy chopstick handling.

 

“Let’s go.” Hanzo said, when he clearly couldn’t contain his impatience with McCree any longer. He rose, and gave a slight nod to the restaurant staff, all of whom stopped what they were doing to bow to him.

 

“ _Your car is waiting out the front, Mr Shimada_.” A clerk said as they re-entered the lobby.

 

Genji followed Hanzo out into the neon-lit night, Jesse trailing behind them, still wiping his face with a serviette. A smart black hovercar was waiting for them. It had darkened windows and it’s middle was stretched so that guests could sit facing one another.

 

“I never rode in no limo before,” Jesse whispered to Genji. He was beginning to feel a little out of place, “You sure you want me on this mission? If I’m in your way I could always go wait with the boss.”

 

It had never occurred to Genji before that Jesse McCree could be insecure.

 

“Don’t worry,” Genji reassured him, “We’ll be out of high society soon enough.”

 

Jesse made himself comfortable on the black leather seats. Genji seated himself opposite and drew his legs up to his chest.

 

“ _We are still being watched by polite company.”_ Hanzo said out loud in the car. Given that it was said in Japanese, Genji had to assume that was meant to reprimand him. He let out a huff and took his feet off the seat.

 

“He just tell you off?” McCree whispered to Genji. Genji ignored him.

 

Jesse let out a puff of air himself. It was going to be hard doing a whole mission with these two. He watched with curiosity out the corner of his eye as Hanzo pressed a button. A compartment between their two seats opened and a plume of cold air was released, revealing a small refrigerator. Hanzo reached in and selected a bottle. He uncorked the jar at his side and poured the bottle in. He put the empty bottle back in and reached for another. He emptied this into his jar too. He replaced the second bottle and got out a third. Jesse’s eyes widened. Hanzo shut the refrigerator, unscrewed the bottle and drank straight from it.

 

“ _Polite company, was that?_ ” Genji said, still looking out the window.

 

“ _Quiet._ ” Hanzo retorted.

 

“Could you fellas maybe not do that?” Jesse fiddled with his hat, “On account o’ how I can’t speak Japanese ‘n’ all.”

 

There was silence. ‘Thanks a bunch’ Jesse murmured under his breath.

 

Genji watched familiar streets roll by his window. A smattering of rain smeared down the glass and refracted all the lights into a chaotic kaleidoscope of colour. There were streets he’d stumbled down, streets he’d fought on, streets he’d thrown up on, streets he’d kissed on. He touched his fingers to his lips, but came up on cold steel. He withdrew his hand quickly.

 

Jesse was watching Hanzo. Hanzo was sitting relaxed, drinking steadily from the glass bottle, but Jesse noticed his gaze was restless, and always returned to studying Genji. He watched Genji watching the road, and he watched Genji looking at his hands like they belonged to an alien, and he he watched Genji sit back in his seat, curling his shoulders to make himself smaller. Jesse frowned, but said nothing.

 

The car pulled to a stop before an enormous gate. Hanzo got out and dropped an empty sake bottle back on his seat.

 

“Everything okay, Genji?” McCree said before they joined him.

 

“Perfect.” Genji said stiffly.

 

Hanamura was quieter than the part of the city they’d first touched down in. The streets behind them were still bright and blaring – McCree could read a sign for ‘Rikimaru Ramen’ printed in yellow and orange. Before them though, was a different matter all together. Tall dark buildings loomed overhead, with curling night black roofs that blocked out the stars.

 

“Find something suitable to wear, and then check the database in the castle. I’ve compiled a list of all I remember, but the database should have the rest. See what is left in the repository behind the family shrine and make a note of it.” Hanzo brought a sheet of paper out from inside his kimono and proffered it to Genji.

 

“You’re not coming in?”

 

“No.” Came the terse response.

 

“You’re the one with all the information, why aren’t you coming in?”

 

“You’re the one who’s a _Blackwatch_ agent. Do I have to hold this all night or are you going to take it?”

 

The brothers locked eyes. McCree tentatively snatched the paper from Hanzo. He glanced at it, it was all written in Japanese characters.

 

“Looks mighty fine. Genji ‘n’ I have got this.” He gave Genji a look. Genji turned away and McCree followed him off to one side. “Genji, let’s just do this ourselves, he’s probably got his reasons.”

 

“What reason could _he_ possibly have?” Genji snapped.

 

“Ain’t you seeing what I’m seeing?”

 

Genji looked over his shoulder behind him. Hanzo had seated himself in the shadow of the gate and got his sake bottle out. He drew his kimono tighter about him to hide his tattoos, then took a long drink from the bottle.

 

“Remember way back at base when I first caught sight o’ this guy? You asked me if he seemed regretful or anythin’. Well I’m gettin’ pretty strong regret vibes right now.”

 

Hanzo’s shoulders were heavy, as if burdened with a great weight, but they’d been like that for several years now, Genji recalled. He snatched the paper from McCree and strode into the castle grounds.

 

Jesse followed Genji into the compound. He was immediately ill at ease. The darkened empty buildings disturbed him, and seemed like paintings out of time, and out of sync with the world beyond their gates. The curling roofs and quiet wood walls felt austere, stiff, and like a thousand eyes were judging him and calling him a trespasser. There was an eerie rustle of trees about him. His only light was the city beyond the walls and the soft red glow Genji emitted. Genji had stepped up onto a wooden platform and paused under another gate leading to a further courtyard. A small shrine occupied its middle and the dim shape of trees curled about it. Towering above were the stack pagoda roofs of an enormous castle.

 

“It is cherry blossom season,” Genji said quietly.

 

“I’ll take your word for it, ‘cause I can’t see shit.”

 

Genji gave a slight sorrowful smile. He could not see much either, but he could feel the soft petals on his cheek, and that strong smell of late spring that always arose from this garden. His steps became slower, more reverent. He paused again when he reached the entrance of the castle itself. McCree nearly bumped into him. Genji said nothing this time. He drew the castle doors open and stepped within. A wooden walkway lit red with the glow of Genji’s augmentations. He looked down at his feet, then stepped tentatively onto a tatami mat occupying most of the room.

 

“Wait here.” He said to McCree. He walked gingerly over to the ancestral shrine. The name Shimada Sojiro was engraved on a small wooden stick. A daisho had been set beside it. Genji’s frowned, recognising it as Hanzo’s. There was no way Genji would ever part with his own swords. It was odd to think that Hanzo’s lay here, where anyone might take them, as if he no longer cared for an important part of his family’s heritage and honour. Genji shrugged the mystery off, his brother had always preferred using a bow anyway, like he had in order to… He let that thought slide and looked instead at the tatami beneath his feet. It was new. The clan had lost no time in replacing the mats he had lain dying on. He touched the ancient wooden pillars of the family shrine, and found the wounds where it had been pierced by arrows. Someone had tried to wash away all Genji’s blood, but there were places where he had stained deep into the woodwork. He touched the splintered holes, and laid his palm over them. A shiver swept through him.

 

“Genji?” McCree could only see the dim lights and circles on Genji’s armour.

 

“I will not be long. Stay here.” Genji ran up a wall and vanished.

 

McCree swore softly. The imposing darkened castle was making his spine crawl. He touched a hand to his earpiece and switched it on. It would be good to hear a friendly voice while he waited.

 

“Trouble already, Jesse?” He heard the commander over the comms.

 

“No, sir.” Jesse’s voice was hushed. It felt wrong to talk loudly in this place.

 

“Still got both brothers accounted for?”

 

“Uh…” McCree looked about him, as if hoping both Shimada brothers might appear so that the commander wouldn’t detect a lie in his voice.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

 

“It’s all under control, Boss.” Jesse tried to reassure him, “We’re just picking up some info from the castle. They each wanted a lil bit of alone time if you get me. But hey, I had a nice dinner. Did… did you and the captain have… have a nice dinner?” Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, his attempt at casual conversation sounded lame even to his own ears.

 

“Jesse, I specifically told you-”

 

“Look after Genji, I know, I know,” Jesse reasoned as quietly as he could into his earpiece, “Kinda hard to do that when he can just walk up vertical walls, Boss. He fair abandoned me in the middle of his… damn creepy castle. Did you know Genji used to live in a castle? His folks musta been… well it ain’t no Route 66 diner, let me tell you.”

 

“Just, keep an eye on him. And don’t let him murder his brother until we’re done with all the info the guy has.”

 

“Gabriel!” McCree could hear Ana exclaim from further away.

 

“You got it, Boss.” Jesse tried not to let the tired he was feeling show in his voice.

 

There was a pause.

 

“Holding up alright, kid?”

 

Jesse started,

 

“Yep. Yep, sure. You know me, always managin’.”

 

“I gave you a tough gig this time.”

 

“I like a challenge.” Jesse took his hat off and ran his hand back through his hair. It was late, and the evening had left him feeling out of his element. “‘Course, mighta helped if I’d maybe looked at a Japanese phrasebook or somethin’ on the way over. Can’t believe I lived next to Genji all this time and never got him to teach me a word.” He hoped the commander wasn’t going to sign off, he wasn’t ready to be left on his own in this dour place. Reyes seemed to sense that, or at least humoured him by staying on the line.

 

“Some language is universal. Language of violence, for example.”

 

“Haha, Boss, you got a stack o’ one liners like that you save for dramatic moments?”

 

“Maybe, I do.”

 

“Hey – are you eating? I thought I could hear eating.”

 

“Missing the Cajun chicken, Kid.”

 

“Aw seriously?” McCree caught sight of red lights on the balcony above. “I think Genji’s back, better make tracks. Save some for me next time.”

 

“Not going to happen. Send me the address where you’re staying before you turn in tonight.”

 

“Sure thing.” McCree turned off his earpiece. He turned around and Genji was in front him. Jesse nearly jumped out his skin.

 

“Give a guy some warning will you!” He looked Genji up and down. He was still wearing his oversized hoodie. “I thought Hanzo said something about new clothes?” Genji shuffled a dufflebag in his hand. “And takin’ a list of missing items or some such?” Genji waved a piece of paper in his face. “Right. Good. Glad that’s all settled and we can get outa this creepy place. No offence.”

 

“None taken.” Genji led the way back out.

 

Hanzo joined them once they reached the gate. He, too, looked Genji up and down disapprovingly.

 

“In the bag.” Genji said dully, before he was told off again. Hanzo pursed his lips. “I’ll put them on when needed.” Genji returned, reading the responses each displeased look conveyed to him. Genji started walking down the road, then stopped, “Whatever hotel I choose you’re going to turn your nose up at, so you might as well choose.”

 

“Already chosen. We’re going to the White Garden Hotel.”

 

“Thanks. For a moment I was worried I might have to make one whole decision on my own.”

 

“I see you guys gotta good working relationship going on.” McCree put in, “Far be it from me to spoil it, but can we maybe dial down the snark and angst levels, ‘cause I’m drownin’ over here.”

 

Hanzo and Genji both glared at him. He winced at the combined effect and opted to stay quiet as they walked on.

 

The hotel was carved wood and some of it’s walls were sliding paper, handpainted with mountain landscapes. Jesse twisted his hat between his hands uncertainly. Hanzo strode confidently up to the desk. The receptionist was a bent old woman in a fading kimono and a bright clean starched apron.

 

“ _Master Shimada, you are back in Hanamura,”_ She bowed to Hanzo, “ _We are honoured to receive you. Anything you need, please allow us to provide it to you without further cost.”_

 

“ _That won’t be necessary.”_

 

“ _The Shimada Clan has always looked after this establishment and its workers. If you are back in town, Master, then the White Garden Hotel always recognises your place here. We hope you in turn will remember us and look upon us kindly.”_

 

Hanzo nodded, receiving the gift,

 

“ _Then I will have three rooms. One each for myself and my companions.”_

 

The receptionist led them round the back and indicated to a set of shelves set on the floor, lined with wicker slippers. Hanzo released the power locks on a pair of greaves supporting his ankles and lifted his feet out of the hefty metal supports. He selected a pair of slippers and nudged his feet into them. Genji stared at the slippers dully. He grabbed a pair and rammed his metal feet into them. The neat wicker sides split as they tried to accommodate their angular shape.

 

“Um.” McCree hesitated, feeling foolish and unsure of himself again.

 

“Shoes off.” Genji motioned to the panelled wooden floor in the corridor beyond. McCree kicked off his boots, spurs clinking and spinning as he did. He gingerly fished out a pair of slippers and held his boots to his chest as he followed the brothers.

 

Jesse was shown to a door that slid open onto a room lined with mats.

 

“Slippers off.” Genji supplied.

 

“Huh? But I just put them on?”

 

“No shoes here.” Genji pointed at the mats, “Slippers here,” he pointed at the wooden floor, “Shoes beyond that door,” He pointed back the way they had come.

 

“Lordy,” McCree muttered, “The boss’d have a fit if you told him he had to do all that.”

 

Jesse soon found himself alone in a room with paper walls and a futon bed laid straight onto the floor. The room was spacious, perfectly square, clean, and devoid of unnecessary ornamentation. It was the kind of room that reminded him of Hanzo Shimada, and not of Jesse McCree. He looked at his toe poking through a hole in his sock. A small wireless electric kettle was in the corner next to a small round teapot and a caddy full of loose leaf tea.

 

Jesse lay back on his bed and flicked his earpiece on.

 

“You heard from anyone else, Boss?”

 

“Nope. Just you.”

 

“Oh. Guess I’ll fill you in then. We’re at the White Garden Hotel in the Hanamura district. All the walls are made o’ paper so I don’t know who can hear me, so I’ll keep it brief. Here’s the important stuff: there’s no fuckin’ coffee, Boss. There’s just tea. Can I come home?”

 

“Suck it up, Cowboy.”

 

“If I was to be not a cowboy right now, would you let me come back and use your coffee machine?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“I can’t keep up with Genji when I got my normal cuppa joe, how’d you expect me to keep an eye on him when I’m a caffeine depleted wreck, ashiverin’ in the corner and sufferin’ an’-”

 

“Goodnight, Jesse.”

 

“Boss, don’t hang up on me! I’m in real trouble here!”

 

Jesse pulled the earpiece out and glowered at it when it went silent. He sighed and laid back, looking up at the wooden beams of the roof above. When he finally drifted off to sleep he dreamed that he was being chased down a corridor by Hanzo who was throwing shoes at him, while Genji darted in front of him holding a mug of coffee just out of reach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still can’t believe it’s actual Overwatch canon that Hanzo has his entire lower legs encased in steel because his ankles are weak.
> 
> Thank you for all your beautiful comments btw. My sister beta read this chapter and instantly recognised the guest house we stayed in last summer that inspired parts of this chapter. If you’re ever heading to Dewa Sanzan please check out the Shukubo Kambayashi Katsukane it’s a stunning place to stay and the food is so good.
> 
> Tumblr: erenaeoth.tumblr.com


	14. As Cherry Blossoms Fall

McCree groaned as sat up. He rubbed his knuckles into his back to ease the stiffness there. It had been a while since he’d slept on a floor. The paper walls of his room were lit cream white with the morning sun. He blinked for a moment, unsure where he was. He checked his phone for the time, yawned, stretched, then pulled on his trousers and did up the large belt buckle clasp. The buckle was large and gold and read _BAMF_. Not real gold of course, but he was still proud of it and regularly polished it, though he’d never admit to that.

 

“Not a cowboy, huh, Moira,” he muttered to himself, “I might not be a cowboy but least I’m bad ass moth-”

 

There was a smash from next door. McCree grabbed his revolver slammed his door aside and ran out into the corridor. He had a second to notice Hanzo doing the same, before both of them ran to Genji’s door. McCree pulled the door open. Genji was standing in a sea of shattered silvery glass fragments. His breathing sounded hard through his respirator. Hanzo and McCree hesitated when they saw no other immediate danger.

 

“You okay, Genji?” Jesse asked tentatively.

 

“Mirror just fell, that’s all.” Genji returned, his voice even and his breath normalising.

 

McCree could see flecks of glass and beads of blood on Genji’s fist.

 

There was an awkward pause in which no one was under any illusions about the fate of the mirror.

 

Hanzo broke the silence and spoke gruffly,

 

“Do you need help dressing?”

 

McCree frowned. He followed Hanzo’s gaze and saw pile of unceremoniously dumped clothes behind Genji.

 

Genji paced in a circle, letting glass crunch under his steel feet and grind into the tatami. McCree could see Hanzo wincing slightly at the sound and the damage.

 

“They don’t fit. Because of these,” Genji snapped. He gave one terse gesture to the tubes and wiring plugged into his spine and skull.

 

“Allow me.” Hanzo stepped into the room. Genji whirled to face him. Hanzo froze. It was the first time McCree had seen something like fear from the usually reserved Hanzo. “I have an idea,” Hanzo said more carefully. He skirted Genji, giving him, or maybe the broken glass, wide berth. Hanzo picked up a dark brown blazer with a silver green interior. He brushed it down then held it up for Genji.

 

Genji shied away from him.

 

A flicker of hurt flashed across Hanzo’s face, but it vanished so fast that McCree wasn’t sure he’d seen it at all. Jesse realised as his eyes moved between Genji standing as far away he could from his brother, and Hanzo proffering the jacket, that this was what he was here for.

 

“Well, uh. Let’s give Hanzo’s idea a go, shall we, Genji?” Jesse stepped in, “You mind?” He held out a hand to Hanzo. Hanzo gave him a dark look, but handed over the blazer. Jesse helped Genji into it. Genji was right, it didn’t fit at all. He had trouble even getting his arms in.

 

Hanzo took a step forward,

 

“Hand me your wakizashi.”

 

“ _Fuck off,_ ” was the immediate response.

 

“I can cut holes for the tubes to come through, it will sit much better.” Hanzo reasoned.

 

Genji’s eyes were fierce like burning wildfires.

 

“Not a worry,” Jesse put in, smiling with difficulty, “I got a lil knife I keep on me, I can make the holes m’self.”

 

Hanzo and Genji locked eyes as Jesse set about fixing the jacket.

 

“Going to pull these tubes out and fix them right one by one, that ok, Genji?” Jesse asked.

 

Genji didn’t reply, so Jesse waited. The brothers kept glaring at each other, until eventually Hanzo looked off to one side.

 

“Seems like everything here is under control. I will be in the front room taking breakfast.” Hanzo left.

 

As soon as Hanzo left, Genji’s shoulders relaxed. Jesse fixed him up so that his wiring fed through the clothes.

 

“I look stupid.” Genji said, glancing over his shoulder at tangle of lines feeding through the jacket.

 

“Nah. It’s a good look. Very cyberpunk. Oh hey, you got some smart pants here to match. Is that a silk lining? Damn boy did you used to have some style?”

 

Genji snatched the trousers off McCree and pulled them on,

 

“Everyone has more style than you, Jesse.”

 

“Ouch, now I know you been spending too much time around the boss. You know, I reckon the real reason the boss’s so rude about my outfit choices is on account o’ how he’s a bit of a fashionista himself. Like, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Strike Commander turned round an’ said he was all up for callin’ the operation Greenwatch or somethin’, but then the boss got wind and was all – it’s gotta be black for my dramatic aesthetic: call it Blackwatch or you’re sleepin’ alone tonight, Jack Morrison.”

 

Genji looked at McCree. He suddenly folded over laughing. He put a hand to his ventilator to muffle the sound and held his middle.

 

“Thought you’d clean forgotten how to laugh, Genji Shimada.” McCree said, folding his arms, “Glad to see I’m good for somethin’ other than makin’ a fool of myself in front o’ your brother.”

 

“I’m glad you’re here, Jesse.” Genji was still suppressing laughs that kept escaping him, “I really can imagine the commander saying something like that. And last night, when you said to Hanzo – ‘you know what time it is’ – I nearly died inside trying to stop from laughing. His face – _aahah_ – and yours – it was too much!”

 

“ _You_ nearly died? I nearly died on account o’ being more embarrassed than any fella alive! He already thinks I’m a moron, what did I have to go messin’ things up ‘n’ saying that for!” Jesse pulled a hand down his face, “And he was eating so goddamn fast his hands were like lightening, I was just doin’ my best tryin’ to stuff my face as quick as I could, because he’s sittin’ there so impatient I thought he was gonna take a swing at me!”

 

“He always did eat fast,” Genji acknowledged, “But you were eating _so_ slowly…”

 

“Oh well excuse a guy when he’s given ten different bowls all with lil tiny things in and only two sticks to get the stuff from there to his pie hole!”

 

Genji laughed again and put a hand on his shoulder,

 

“Talking of your pie hole. You better go get breakfast. I’ll finish up here and join you.”

 

“Right, right.” Jesse scratched his head, “Just me and Hanzo, sounds great, sounds fuckin’ great. Don’t take too long coming, ‘cause I’m pretty sure he hates me.”

 

“Don’t take it personally, he hates everybody.”

 

Jesse grumbled as he walked away, detouring to his room to finish getting dressed, then reluctantly heading off to eat.

 

When Genji entered the front room, sun was pouring through the open sliding doors and lighting the wooden interior in soft golds. He paused for a moment, caught in strong nostalgias that pulled him back to younger, gentler times.

 

“Genji,” McCree called.

 

Genji turned and saw his friend sitting with his brother at a small square table. For a moment, Genji’s eyes were forgetful and fond, then Hanzo looked up, and the startling reality of what had occurred between them came thundering home. Genji looked away.

 

Hanzo stood. His plates were empty. McCree’s looked barely touched. He started trying to eat more quickly when he saw Hanzo get up. Genji took a deep breath, there was one matter he had not yet brought up with Hanzo, a niggling worry that had started to press on him now that he was back in Hanamura.

 

“Hanzo.” His brother looked at him, pausing on his way back towards the bedrooms. “ _I wanted to ask about… If I walk around Hanamura am I going to find… I mean… Is... is she…?_ ” Genji trailed off.

 

Hanzo acted as though Genji had spoken a coherent sentence.

 

“ _I believe Mother returned to her family in Hokkaido. She and I aren’t speaking._ ” Hanzo saw Genji’s shoulders relax slightly, but didn’t ask why. Their mother had always spoiled Genji, so it made little sense that he would be glad for her absence. He set this aside and turned to matters of business, “ _We should begin by speaking with those who served in the castle. See if they know which of our brethren are the main culprits. The servants were loyal to father and scare more easily, so the truth should be easier to pull from them. My rank may still hold some sway over them. We will visit the chief steward first._ ”

 

Genji gave a slight huff of amusement. His gaze rested on McCree, who was out of earshot, but glancing anxiously up at them talking a way off from the table, clearly worried he was missing something.

 

“ _My suggestion amuses you?_ ” Hanzo’s voice was clipped with its usual irritation.

 

“ _Yes,_ ” Genji turned to him. “ _The chief steward? Noritaka? You want to go to Noritaka for your first point of call on what’s going on in the castle?_ ”

 

Hanzo bristled and folded his arms,

 

“ _What of it?”_

 

“ _That senile old man couldn’t tell if you stole his own false teeth from out of his mouth. Yosuke is who you want to talk to.”_

 

Hanzo’s face pulled a blank.

 

“ _Yosuke? The cook?_ ” Genji asked, incredulous.

 

“ _Oh. That was his name?”_

 

“ _You don’t even know who works in your own home. Yosuke was the most well-connected man in the castle, nothing happened without it passing through his kitchen_.”

 

“Sup, folks? I’m done! Sorry for taking so long, what I miss?” McCree placed his hat on his head and stood with his legs apart.

 

Hanzo and Genji exchanged a look, in which Genji raised his eyebrows and Hanzo muttered darkly into his beard.

 

“We’re going to talk to our old cook,” Genji supplied, then looked to Hanzo again, “Is anyone still working at the castle?”

 

“They come and go.” Hanzo had his arms folded and his gaze elsewhere as he relinquished what information he had, “There are always members seeking to re-establish their grip on the castle. I’ve been systematically executing those that do. So they may have finally caught on and left.”

 

“That’ll make folks a little harder to find, am I right?” McCree put in.

 

Hanzo glared at him.

 

“Not to worry, I’ve got this.” Genji strolled over to the receptionist. She was a grey haired lady and seemed to pin down a lot more jobs than just receptionist. As Genji approached, she put down the sheets she’d been carrying and came to the little desk with its datapad and card scanner. _“Hey, it’s Mrs Ito, right?_ ”

 

The old woman squinted at him. She clasped her hands together in delight.

 

“ _Shimada Genji!”_ she exclaimed, her face split into a beam, _“It’s been so long since you last visited us, young master. I did not know you with that mask on!”_

 

“ _Sorry,”_ he smiled with his eyes. _“Bad cold. You don’t want it. Mrs Ito, you don’t happen to know where Mr Yosuke who worked in my kitchen went do you?”_

 

“ _Oh, young master Genji, I noticed you didn’t eat my food, is it very bad these days?”_

 

“ _Nothing like that, nothing like that at all. In fact, I brought my friend here just so that he could sample it,”_ Genji gestured to McCree behind him. McCree gave a small nervous wave, lost as to what was happening. “ _But on account of my illness, I have to eat special food, Mrs Ito. I’m not looking for Mr Yosuke for anything like that though, just keen to talk with him. It’s been a while since I was back in Hanamura._ ”

 

The kindly Mrs Ito couldn’t stop beaming as she wrote down an address for Genji. She bowed as she handed him the paper and begged him to stay for as long as he was in town.

 

“Wow.” McCree stared at Genji, “What was that? You just charmed the pants off that poor old lady.”

 

Genji gave him a bored look,

 

“I know her. I know all the people round here. Spent twenty-four years of my life in this place. Of course, some people can spend longer and apparently know a lot less.” Genji tilted his head at Hanzo.

 

“Shut up,” Hanzo muttered. He held out his hand and Genji passed him the address. There was a pause, then dismay registered on Hanzo’s face, “What kind of address is this? _Ojima west bicycle rose door_?”

 

A chuckle escaped Genji. McCree stared again. The social interaction, the laughter, and the added effect of clothes gave him a new glimpse into the old person Genji had been. Genji clapped a hand on Hanzo’s shoulder and took the paper back out of his hands.

 

“No one calls the houses by number, Hanzo. There’s a story for every street corner. If you spent some time with the people too far below your notice, you’d know that too.” Genji walked into the sunlight holding the paper up between two fingers, “Guess you’ll have to follow my lead now.”

 

“He’d like a different fuckin’ person,” McCree whispered, half under his breath.

 

“Like his annoying old self,” Hanzo grated.

 

There was fresh rain on the streets and stray cherry blossoms spun upon puddles like small frail boats. The wind was full of new spring and still a little chill in places. When Genji knocked on the door of the old cook’s house, it took the old man a good few moments to recognise him.

 

“ _Master Genji! I feared the worst for you! We all thought… when we heard what had happened… Everyone was devastated for you. We th-”_ The cook paled on seeing Hanzo behind Genji. “ _Ah..._ ” He stalled, then bowed low, _“My apologies, Master Shimada, I did not see you there._ ” Yosuke the cook looked suddenly apprehensive, _“Please come in, my home is, of course, your home._ ”

 

Genji threw a frown at Hanzo, then all three of them followed Yosuke into his house. Yosuke was a slightly plump, ageing man with sharp eyes, black glasses, and stripes of silver in his thin hair. He led them into a small sitting room with a century-old couch still patterned in its ninteen-sixties print. Yosuke grabbed a pile of magazines with holo-ads moving and waving from their pages. He stuffed them into a book shelf. He picked up a blanket strewn on the sofa and hastily folded it and set it aside.

 

“ _Please, please take a seat._ ” His agitation was so palpable that even McCree caught on, “ _Can I get you tea, Master Shimada? And for you Master Genji,”_ Yosuke paused mid-sentence.

 

Yosuke had always had time for Genji in his kitchen, even when he rolled in at ungodly hours of the morning demanding hangover cures, or coffee, or cola, or hot chocolate… whatever the spectrum and however untraditional, Yosuke was always on hand and ready. Genji knew Yosuke had paused because the suggestions on the tip of his tongue were a lot less respectable than tea. All the serving staff had done their best to shield Genji from the expectations of the clan nobles. At some point, Hanzo had slipped into that category.

 

“ _I’m good, thank-you. But my American friend would probably like a coffee._ ” Genji gave the man a kind look.

 

The cook had been so preoccupied with seeing the brothers, that he’d barely had a chance to register his third guest.

 

“American!” Yosuke said in delight, and in his best English: “Very much pleased.” He gave a bow to Jesse.

 

Jesse tipped his hat back,

 

“And to you, sir.”

 

“What – is – your – name?” Yosuke said very slowly, then smiled at his attempt.

 

“Jesse McCree,” Jesse gave him a wide smile, “And you?”

 

Yosuke looked to Genji for help.

 

“ _Your name._ ” Genji supplied.

 

“Sato Yosuke,” The cook bowed again, “ _no Shimada,_ ” he added, with a quick, slightly anxious smile in Hanzo’s direction.

 

“Oh, nice. Sweet. That’s a long name. A good one though. I once knew a lady went by the whole name Elizabeth Caledonia ‘Calamity’ Ashe and let me tell you that was a mouthful ‘n’ a half.”

 

Yosuke looked at Genji again _,_

 

“ _He likes your name._ ”

 

Yosuke tilted his head,

 

“Thank you, thank you.” Yosuke put a hand on Genji’s arm, “ _He reminds me, how do I say it, these old American films –_ Clint Eastwood.”

 

“Clint Eastwood! Well that’s me, sir! A cowboy! Hey, I like this fella, Genji.” McCree grinned. Yosuke smile back at him nodding.

 

Hanzo folded his arms.

 

Yosuke started as if out of a dream,

 

“ _Your tea, Master Shimada, I apologise. I have your favourite here._ ” Yosuke hurried out the door into the next room.

 

“You should have stayed behind,” Genji said when he’d gone.

 

“Me?” McCree pointed to himself, hurt.

 

“Not you,” Genji said.

 

Hanzo said nothing. He tapped his armoured toes lightly in the air.

 

Yosuke returned with a steaming pot of tea and a small cup. He bowed and offered these up to Hanzo. Hanzo took the pot first, swilled it once, smelled it, then placed it on the table. Then he took the cup. He tilted his head slightly in thanks. Yosuke disappeared again. The next time he returned he brought a mug of coffee and a plastic box. He smiled and handed the coffee to Jesse.

 

“Oh thank the lord, I need that so bad.” Jesse took the mug and pressed it too him like a long lost child, “My head hurts just smellin’ it. Can’t get this inside me quick enough.”

 

Genji raised an eyebrow, his amusement went to surprise when the plastic box was offered to him.

 

“ _Remember I always kept some in the pantry for you? Old habits die hard. Your favourite flavour of course. I wouldn’t be much use if I couldn’t remember that!”_

 

Long, thin, hard baked sweets lined with little sesame seeds were in the box. Genji looked at Yosuke, and then at the box of sweets. He wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t sure how to explain to this man who had helped raise him, that he could no longer eat, no longer taste, no longer share in the things that had bonded them in the past. Somehow admitting that to this man was much harder than Genji had anticipated.

 

Hanzo watched him. There was a slight tremble in Genji’s hand.

 

“ _Put that away,_ ” Hanzo said sharply to Yosuke. _“Do you think my brother still a child? He should have out grown such tastes by now._ ”

 

Yosuke’s faced paled again, he apologised quickly and darted back out the room to put away the sweets.

 

Genji hung his head.

 

“ _Thank you,_ ” he said very quietly.

 

Hanzo was silent.

 

This time when Yosuke returned he was demure and rung his hands as he stood before them.

 

McCree felt awkward and uncomfortable with the dynamic in the room. When it came to power play and wealthy people looking down on others, he was used to being the one looked down on.

 

“Shall we maybe all sit down together and chat this out all reasonable like?” he asked.

 

Genji glanced at him, but then returned his attention to the old cook. Hanzo poured himself tea. The action was slow and deliberate, as though the whole room were waiting on it. He lifted his cup to his mouth and sipped.

 

“ _I’m looking for information on who has been robbing Shimada Castle,”_ Hanzo said at last.

 

The cook became even more agitated,

 

“ _N-not me, Master Shimada, you know I would never-”_

 

“ _I’m not accusing you, old man, I’m asking you for information.”_

 

“ _Y-yes, of course.”_ The cook looked at his feet _, “Many others of the clan move things to and from the castle, Master. They are all Shimada, so no one thought it stealing… But if it was done without your permission, of course, then that is a different matter altogether…”_

 

Genji interlocked his fingers and kept his eyes on them. Yosuke had always been kind to him, and he hated seeing him so distressed.

 

“ _I’m interested in the artefacts from the room behind the ancestral shrine.”_

 

“ _The bits of machine, Master?”_

 

“ _The very same. Where have they been taken and who is doing the taking?”_

 

Yosuke hesitated. Genji could only pray that the man didn’t hold out on them, getting information out of people was one of the many tasks Genji had been sent to complete by his clan, but he had always tended to lump those off on Hanzo, who was far more efficient at it.

 

“ _Will you be staying in Hanamura long this time, Master Shimada?_ ” Yosuke asked, but then hurried to continue when he saw Hanzo’s anger at not being answered. “ _It’s just, while I am always your loyal servant, when you are not here there are others in Hanamura who demand loyalties and silence. I am very much afraid of getting on their wrong side. But if you are here for good, Master Shimada, then of course I am yours and the information likewise...”_ Yosuke watched Hanzo’s face for some small indication of his mood.

 

Hanzo sipped tea. He set the empty cup down on the table, and poured another. He replaced the teapot and returned his gaze to Yosuke.

 

“ _I do not know my plans for the future,_ ” He said, “ _But I plan to utterly destroy my enemies._ ” He picked up his cup again and sipped, _“Are_ you _working with my enemies, Yasuke?_ ”

 

Genji wasn’t sure if Hanzo deliberately misremembered the man’s name, or if he’d genuinely forgotten, but the effect was still powerful.

 

“ _Never,_ ” The old cook said. _“I am loyal to Shimada Hanzo as I was Shimada Sojiro before him.”_

 

There was silence. Hanzo merely sipped his tea.

 

Jesse found he’d not been able to take a sip of his coffee for the taught tension in the room. He wished he could understand what was happening. All he could go on was body language, and he could see even Genji was unhappy with the situation.

 

“ _Mr Senichi and Mr Utano were involved in moving machine parts not long after you left the first time, Master. The main room before the shrine was still being repaired when they first started moving objects from there. I cannot say how recently they have continued such operations. I took time off from working at the castle after…”_ There was a pause in which his sad eyes glanced at Genji. He looked back at the floor quickly, “ _When I came back to work I was told my services were no longer required. I have been here ever since. I see people come in and out the castle, but I keep quiet. I do not want any trouble._ ”

 

“ _Senichi and Utano… Where are they living? Still in the castle? Or in the town?_ ”

 

“Hanzo,” Genji put in carefully, “We have what we need, perhaps we should leave. We don’t want to put Yosuke in unnecessary danger.”

 

“ _I am the only danger Mr Yosuke needs to fear._ ” Hanzo said, deliberately slipping back into Japanese so that the old cook could understand him.

 

“ _In town, Master Shimada. No one lives in the castle at night. They fear the rumours of the blue dragons who guard it for you even when you are afar. They are at plum tree corner in the second house, Master Genji knows it.”_

 

“ _Next to the arcade?”_ Genji asked.

 

“ _Yes.”_ Yosuke interlocked his hands behind his back, eyes returning anxiously to Hanzo.

 

“Let’s go there then.” Genji looked to Hanzo.

 

Jesse started drinking his lukewarm coffee quickly,

 

“I’m with whatever Genji says,” he put in.

 

Hanzo put down his cup and stood.

 

Yosuke backed up until he was against his far wall.

 

Hanzo gave him a wafer thin smile,

 

“ _Thank you for your co-operation._ ” He showed himself out the front door. Genji and McCree followed.

 

“ _Master Genji?_ ” Yosuke stopped Genji just before he left, _“Are you alright?_ ”

 

Genji looked at the old cook quizzically, not sure what kind of an answer that should merit.

 

“ _Are you alright being with…”_ Yosuke glanced out the door, _“Only if you’re not where you want to be right now, I… I know it’s not my place. But you know if you asked it, I’d do anything I could to help you._ ”

 

The old cook was asking if he was being held against his will. A fair assessment given what he knew and the circumstances.

 

“ _I will always value you friendship, Yosuke. But do not worry for me. He cannot hurt me any more.”_ He parted his suit jacket to show the man the metal making up most of his torso. Yosuke stepped back a little in shock. “ _Please don’t tell my mother. Not about this, and not about seeing me. There are some things it is best for her not to know.”_

 

The day was not so bright after they left. Grey clouds studded the sky and a brisk wind sent blossoms skittering.

 

Hanzo had already begun walking down the street. Jesse matched pace with Genji.

 

“Genji, I don’t know what in nine hells is going on, but what was that back there? I thought you said that guy was a cook? I thought I was in town to rough up Yakuza, not-”

 

“Shh,” Genji broke in, “Even with your horrible pronunciation, that’s not a word you just throw around on the street, Jesse.”

 

“I ain’t down with terrifying civilians,” Jesse retorted.

 

“Really?” Hanzo said from ahead, apparently still able to hear their conversation, “Not learned that trick off your commander yet?”

 

“You leave the boss outa this!” The anger in McCree’s voice was audible now, “And if you’re talkin’ about the way he treated you, you ain’t exactly a civilian.”

 

“No one here is exactly a civilian,” Hanzo said simply. “Everyone is tied to everyone else. Threads in a web. I was very civil. And I now have the information I need, I fail to see what the problem is here.”

 

“The problem is that man looked shook outa his boots! And none o’ that back there had a very civil feeling! What were you doing back there that got him runnin’ so scared?”

 

“Are you sure you shouldn’t have been in Overwatch? You don’t seem to fit Blackwatch’s chosen method of operation,” Hanzo said mildly.

 

“Listen, pal-” McCree strode up to Hanzo and turned him round with a sharp push to his shoulder. Hanzo’s eyes lit with an intent fire. Jesse squared up before him. “You don’t know the first thing about me, and you don’t know the-”

 

“Jesse.” Genji planted himself between Hanzo and Jesse. He was facing Jesse.

 

Something hurt and disbelieving crashed into McCree’s features,

 

“You’re… you’re taking _his_ side? You’re protecting _him_?”

 

“I’m not protecting anyone,” Genji said quickly, but the damage was already done.

 

“Fine,” McCree threw his hands in the air, “Fine. What do I know, I’m just some loud-mouthed American, getting in the way of your fuckin’ mafia business. You just go on right ahead.”

 

“Jesse,” Genji tried to placate him, “No one said you were in the way. And from here on out we’re just dealing with the Shimada clan. No more civilians.”

 

Jesse threw up a hand in dismissal and strode off, spurs clinking as he walked.

 

“Let him go,” Hanzo said.

 

“I can’t, he doesn’t know where he is, he’ll get lost.”

 

“He has a tracker and a comm, and he was in the way.”

 

Genji turned and glared at his brother.

 

“Going to have a rant at me as well?” Hanzo asked, “Go after him if you wish. I’ll go do everything myself. As usual.” Hanzo reached for the bottle at his side. He walked on and unscrewed it, taking a long draught from it.

 

Genji stood in the middle of the street, Hanzo walking in one direction and McCree in the other. He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. He turned and hurried to catch up to Hanzo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention I [drew a little picture](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/post/182109774951/im-writing-a-story-where-cyborg-boy-has-to-go) of Genji in his suit.


	15. Dragons Return to Hanamura

Jesse meandered his way through back streets lined with a confused mix of buildings all from different stretches of the last two or three centuries. There were smooth glass buildings with 3D adverts projected through their windows, and two storey roof tiled buildings with grocery stores nestled on the lower level, and much older, square buildings with wooden walls and spacious ancient gardens still kept and tended. Jesse vaguely registered these as he wandered, pausing every now and again to look at a traditional pagoda roofed shrine, or a bamboo fountain sitting next to a shouting skyscraper.

 

He soon found himself by a river with a steep muddy bank all lined with pink blooming cherry trees. He took off his hat and scratched his head. Then he scratched his chin. Then he curled the edges of his Stetson in his hands and looked into the dark grey eddies of the river.

 

“Shoot,” he muttered, “The boss ain’t gonna like this.”

 

He put his hat back on his head and lit up a cigar. He took a big pull on it and watched its butt glow with raw embers. He breathed out wreaths of smoke, then turned on his communicator.

 

“Urm. Hello?”

 

“Jesse, how are you today?”

 

Jesse breathed a sigh of relief: it was Ana.

 

“Good, Cap’n. All good. It’s mighty beautiful here.”

 

“Everything going well? No trouble?” Ana’s voice was kind. She could be formidable when one got on the wrong side of her, but Jesse always felt he was in safe hands around her.

 

“No trouble, at all, Cap’n. In fact, things are going so well, I was thinkin’ o’ coming in, maybe helpin’ you ‘n’ the boss out? Genji and Hanzo kinda got things sorted down here, and I’m mostly in the way.”

 

“Hmm,” Ana was thoughtful, “You’re probably still more useful on the ground than back here, Jesse.”

 

“Cap’n, please. I’m a bit out my depth here, just a couple o’ days and I’ll get back out again right away if they need me.”

 

“Well, the commander’s just got in, so you can have a word with him about it.”

 

“No, no – that’s fine, I don’t need – Cap’n? I’m good with you, I don’t need-”

 

“What don’t you need, Jesse McGuilty-sounding McCree?”

 

“Oh. Hi, Boss.” Jesse pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“You were saying?” Reyes had a way of instantly knowing when something suspicious was afoot.

 

“Um. Just… haha,” Jesse winced and chewed his lip, “I was thinkin’ o’ comin’ in for a bit, is all. Genji and Hanzo are good and I’m just in the way.”

 

“You’re joking, right? I put you there to make sure the two of them don’t kill each other.”

 

“I don’t think they’re gonna to that, Boss. They seem to be getting on fine, so I just thought-”

 

“Where are you?”

 

Jesse’s heart fell,

 

“Uh… next to a river? Somewhere?”

 

“Are the Shimadas with you now?”

 

“Boss, now – don’t get mad – I was just gettin’ to that-”

 

“You left Genji alone with his brother?”

 

“Boss, I-”

 

“ _Jesse._ What was the _one_ thing I specifically asked you to do?”

 

Jesse screwed his eyes shut,

 

“We just had a disagreement is all. I-I needed some time, so I just-”

 

“You’re the only agent with any experience on the team, Jesse?! And you just walked off? I thought I could rely on you! You’re not seventeen any more! I thought I was putting my trust in someone who had an ounce of loyalty and a sense of responsibility!”

 

“I do! I mean, I am! You can trust me! I just- I wasn’t down with the way this Hanzo lords it over the normal folks. You know how much that pisses me off. I used to be just like them, and folks like him treatin’ us like dirt just really gets my goat an’-…” Jesse took a deep breath. There was no point arguing with the commander, “I’m sorry. I’ll go find them.”

 

“Damn right you will.”

 

“You got a GPS location for them or somethin’?” Jesse said glumly.

 

“Sending it to your phone now. Don’t screw this up again. Or I’ll personally come out there and-”

 

“Reading you loud and clear, Boss, you can save all you’re creative threats for another time.”

 

“Right. Good.” The commander was calming down and that dangerous edge that sometimes lit his voice was subsiding. Reyes sighed and Jesse could hear the tiredness in his voice, “You’re the one person I wasn’t expecting to disappoint me, Jesse.”

 

It was always when the commander spoke more quietly that his words pierced Jesse to the core. A sinking weight dragged through him and genuine remorse slunk into his bones. He felt himself shrivel up inside with shame.

 

“I… I really am sorry. I wasn’t thinkin’.”

 

“Just get on with it.” Reyes cut the line.

 

Jesse stood looking down into rushing water. A ruffle of wind shook petals from their branches and sent them sailing downstream. His phone beeped in his pocket. The commander had sent through the brothers’ location. Jesse took a deep breath and walked back the way he had come.

***

“What’s the plan?” Genji asked as Hanzo waved down a taxi.

 

“Same plan as before. Collecting information. Locating the stolen items.”

 

“But… what if things don’t go smoothly?… I should call Commander Reyes.”

 

“Was Commander Reyes there at the Miyagi Industrial Exchange Center?”

 

“No, but-”

 

“How about the Iwate Morioka Factory? Or Kudoupan in Aomori?”

 

“I work for him now, he told me to let him know wh-”

 

“We don’t need him to get the job done. And besides its Senichi and Utano. They’re spineless. It won’t take much to get what we need.”

 

Genji looked sideways at his brother,

 

“Things can’t go back to how they were just because-”

 

“Did I say they should go back to how they were? You agreed to do this job and you agreed to do it with me. Are you coming with me or not?” Hanzo got into a cab.

 

Genji hesitated then jumped in after him.

 

They rode in silence until Genji told the cabdriver where to stop. He handed over what he owed and got out. The streets were darker and gloomier here. The afternoon had stretched into early evening and high up the sides of buildings neon signs were buzzing intermittently into life. An arcade was lit up in bright colours, and the latest games projected trailers onto the streets. A life-size Ryu with his white gi and red headband streaming, stood proud with stubborn features in the middle of the pavement. Next to him was Jin Kazama, and beyond him Samus Aran, and beyond her an ever-grinning Packman sitting as if on the window sill.

 

“I never understood what you saw in these places.” Hanzo straightened his kimono as his eyes followed Genji’s gaze to rest on the arcade.

 

“Because you forgot how to have fun.” Genji passed a hand through the holograms which flickered and showed off a few of their moves, mouths shouting lines that would only be audible if you stepped inside the premises.

 

“I didn’t have time to have fun.”

 

“I know,” Genji said quietly, but not unkindly.

 

Hanzo rapped with the back of his knuckles on the door of the house Yosuke had directed them to. There was loud laughter from inside and talking. The door opened wide onto a wily young man, topless with blue tattoos up his chest. He had a beer in one hand and took a moment to turn his attention to his guests.

 

“Oh shit,” he said when he caught sight of his visitors. He jumped back into the room and reached for his back pocket.

 

“Don’t bother,” Hanzo said coldly.

 

The young man set down his beer and held up his hands, backing into the room as Genji and Hanzo stepped over the threshold. Genji shut the door behind them.

 

“Utano!” the young man shouted, “Utano! It’s the boss!”

 

A second man came running from a back room with a pistol. Hanzo glanced at Genji and jerked his head in the new man’s direction.

 

Genji somersaulted over a couch, half drew his wakizashi and smashed the hilt into the man’s gun hand. The gun dropped and before it had hit the ground Genji had kicked man in his kneecap and brought him screaming to his knees. He clapped his metal hand over the man’s mouth to silence him and stood behind him, placing him in a headlock and ready to snap his neck on order.

 

Hanzo returned his attention to the first man.

 

“Senichi. It’s been some time,” Hanzo said, as if they were discussing the weather.

 

“We didn’t know you were still around, Kumichō. If we’d known-”

 

“Might I have received a different welcome, if you had? A well placed assassin’s knife, perhaps?”

 

“Kumichō, that’s not us at all. We’re not like that at all. We’re very loyal to you. Very loyal.”

 

Hanzo’s eyes glittered. He stepped closer to Senichi and spoke more softly,

 

“Is that why you’ve been stealing from me?”

 

The man paled. He shook his head and backed up until he was again a wall.

 

“That wasn’t… You don’t think that was us, do you? We weren’t… We moved some things around, but it was all on Mr Akemi, not us. He said we should take some stuff uptown because the guys over there could use it and would pay for it. And the clan’s not been doing too well – we were hard up for some time. I swear, Kumichō, if we knew you still wanted that stuff, we never would have-”

 

Hanzo raised a finger for silence, the man, Senichi, stopped himself mid-flow. Hanzo reached into his kimono. Senichi flinched. Hanzo produced a pen and paper.

 

“The names of everywhere you delivered Omnic parts.”

 

“Omnic? Kumichō, it was mostly art and stuff we took.”

 

“Art?” Hanzo snapped, “Not the original Hokusai prints from the family rooms?!”

 

“Hanzo…” Genji interrupted, a fraction reproachful.

 

Hanzo shook his head in irritation and returned to the matter at hand.

 

“You took some machine parts and files from the room beyond the shrine. I want the details of where. This should jog your memory.” He stretched out a hand to Genji. Senichi shrunk back, expecting violence. Genji passed Hanzo the slip of paper with the list of missing Omnic artefacts. Hanzo set the paper before Senichi. “Take your time. Leave nothing out. I will know if you do.”

 

Hanzo looked at the second man, kneeling and forced to look up by Genji’s tight headlock. Hanzo gave a slight nod and Genji removed his hand from the man’s mouth. There were tears in the man’s eyes that he blinked back repeatedly as he drew in a shuddering breath.

 

“A gun, Utano? Surely the Shimada taught you better than that.”

 

The man, Utano, tried to speak, but his voice only came out as a croak. Genji loosened the hold of his bicep, giving the man’s throat a little more space to work.

 

“L-last time you were here, you were picking us off, Kumichō. I thought you were here for our lives.”

 

“The night is still young. There is time for that yet.”

 

Both Utano and Senichi looked up at him with sudden renewed dread.

 

“Are you writing or not?” Hanzo snapped at Senichi. Senichi quickly picked up the pen and began scribbling. “So,” Hanzo looked back at Utano, who was shifting uncomfortably on his knees, “Akemi has you running shipments into Akita?”

 

“Yes, Kumichō. Please… my leg hurts a lot. Please can I sit down?”

 

Hanzo looked into the man’s eyes for a long moment, stretching out that plea. He gave a slight nod. Genji released the man and he collapsed onto the floor and bent over his leg, hands hovering and shaking over his busted kneecap. Genji kicked the fallen pistol over the floor towards Hanzo, then stood silent.

 

“Tell me more,” Hanzo ordered.

 

The two men kept telling him lots of things, most of which weren’t useful. But by the end, though, Hanzo had a list of several big players in Akita who had at least seen and handled the Omnic artefacts in question. When Hanzo had all he needed, he retrieved the pen and paper from Senichi and stowed it back in his kimono.

 

“Now we have one last problem,” he confessed, “I’m keen for my presence here to remain unknown. It won’t do for it to get out that I’m back in town.”

 

“We’ll be silent, Kumichō. We won’t tell a soul.”

 

“Won’t tell a soul!” Utano echoed. Both sets of eyes fixed on him with desperation.

 

Hanzo’s gaze rested on Genji. A look passed between them. Hanzo stretched his arms above his head, shoulders clicking. He turned and walked out the house. He let the door swing shut behind him. He leaned against the wall and uncorked his sake bottle. As he did, he caught sight of a familiar figure, striding down the street in a serape and Stetson hat. Hanzo drank from his bottle.

 

Jesse McCree walked right up to him and planted himself before Hanzo. A cigar hung out of his mouth burning soft embers in the oncoming dark.

 

“Where’s your brother?” he said, eyes sharp and accusatory.

 

Hanzo looked at him through hooded eyes. He said nothing and drank again from his bottle. McCree grabbed the front of his kimono.

 

“You think I’m kidding with you?” McCree’s voice was low and dangerous.

 

Just then the door opened. The darkness around them was broken by red light. A figure stepped onto the street, illuminated only by the circles and lines in his augmentations. Genji slid his katana into the sheath on his back. He turned his red eyes to the scene before him.

 

Jesse abruptly let go of Hanzo and stepped back.

 

“Genji!” Relief flooded his face. It faded slightly when he saw blood spatter up the steel mask and spotted onto Genji’s armour. “Everything… everything okay?”

 

Genji nodded curtly.

 

Hanzo replaced the lid of his bottle and let it hang loose by his side again,

 

“I’ll get us a car back to the hotel.” Hanzo turned to McCree, apparently ignoring the personal intrusion from a moment ago, “Inform your commander we have the names of the immediate buyers.” McCree noted the way Hanzo said _your_ commander, as if Jesse were the only one who answered to Reyes.

 

“Well, why can’t Genji do it, he’s team leader ‘n’ all. Genji, have you even been in contact with the boss since we left the ORCA?”

 

Jesse wasn’t in a hurry to talk to the commander again. A black limousine pulled up within five minutes. Jesse wasn’t in hurry to get in one of those again either. He glanced over his shoulder at the door he’d seen Genji exit. He had a sinking feeling he didn’t want to know what was behind it. The brothers were silent in the limousine. It had another mini fridge, and Hanzo began the systematic process of filling back up his bottle with sake again. Jesse flicked on his earpiece.

 

“Found them?” Reyes said almost immediately in his ear.

 

“Yes, Boss.” Jesse was subdued.

 

“All good?”

 

“All accounted for.”

 

“Good work. Hope you understand why I had to get mad earlier, Kid.”

 

“I gotcha. Won’t give you reason to again, Boss.” McCree noticed Genji’s eyes straying in his direction. He pushed on quickly, “Hanzo says they’ve got the name of the folks buying the tech off the Shimada.”

 

“Quick work. I like how this teams operates.”

 

McCree thought about the closed door he hadn’t looked behind. He had a feeling the commander wouldn’t object too much to those methods either though, so stayed quiet.

 

“Keep your chin up, Jesse. Get some rest. I know this ain’t easy.”

 

“Yeah,” Jesse suddenly didn’t really want to end the call and return to the tense Shimada silence. He closed his eyes, “Sleep well, Boss.” He clicked off the receiver.

***

Genji watched the shoulders of his friend slope heavily after he terminated the call. A part of him had been excited by the idea of showing Jesse the places he’d grown up. Somehow that had all got messed up though. The past and the present were a blurred mix. He wasn’t quite sure what he was doing, or who he was. He turned his hands over as he often did when perplexed by what he’d become. For the first time in a long time, his hands looked the same – they were both striped with blood. He looked away out the window.

 

Mrs Ito at the hotel was pleased to see him again. She offered them dinner, which Jesse accepted. Hanzo passed on it and, after briefly returning to his room, left the hotel again on his own. Genji wanted to spend some time alone, but thought back to how unhappy McCree looked. He opted to keep him company while he ate.

 

McCree ate in silence for some time, focussing on carefully picking up each item he was served with his chopsticks. Genji was happy to indulge him in this silence. After a while, it was clear the quiet was getting to McCree. Genji waited for him to break it.

 

“What’s goin’ on, Genji?”

 

“You’re eating fried aubergine.”

 

“Eggplant. And you know that ain’t what I meant.”

 

“What did you mean then?” Genji sat back and folded his arms. It was the first familiar gesture Jesse had seen him make all day.

 

“You ain’t actin’ like yourself.”

 

“Or maybe I am and you just don’t know me.” Genji immediately wished he hadn’t said that. Hurt registered on McCree’s face, though he buried it in a frowned and kept eating.

 

“Beginning to think maybe I don’t,” Jesse said quietly.

 

“I’m not sure what your objecting too. We’ve done much worse on other Blackwatch missions.”

 

“Not on day one, we ain’t.”

 

“Day two,” Genji corrected.

 

“It’s mostly not the mission I’m worried about. You seem… I ain’t sure. But I don’t think you seem in a good way.”

 

“Because I am more confident? Because I am not cowering away and looking at my appearance every two seconds?”

 

“No – ‘course I didn’t mean that.”

 

“Are you sure you didn’t, Jesse? Because today I’ve felt better than I have in a long time. And I do not need you telling me otherwise.”

 

“Just tryin’ to look out for you, pal. Nothin’ else.”

 

“Why? Because the commander told you to?”

 

“No, I-”

 

“Is that why you came back to join us? Because he shouted at you?”

 

“That ain’t fair.” McCree looked hurt in earnest now.

 

“But it is true.” Genji stood, he wasn’t sure why he’d bothered trying to make Jesse feel better. “I am going to bed. You can tell the commander I am not a child, and that if he really wanted to give me responsibility, he maybe should not have assigned a babysitter to the mission he claimed I would be leading.”

 

Genji stalked out the room. He knew he wasn’t being fair to McCree. No one could do anything to change Reyes’ mind if he’d decided something needed doing. Jesse had about as much say in the matter as Genji did on his food intake each day.

 

Genji flopped down on his futon. His attention slipped to the tiny digits in the top of his vision _20:34_ | _Download at 24.97%._ He gave a sigh and rolled over. He pulled out a wire and felt for an electricity socket. He plugged himself in and watched as his circuits purred into a lulled stasis. He liked the feel of electricity running through him. It was a strange kind of feedback to have. He felt things, but not coming from the nerves in his body. He couldn’t really explain the feeling, so different from anything his organic body felt. His mechanical body knew, more than experienced things. It told him in a clearer language when things were good. It sent him feedback reports rather than confused signals like the vague pain receptors of in organic body. He liked the precision in the feedback he received. His mechanical body told him exactly why the electrical current felt good, it told him what that electricity was being used for, and at what capacity charged he was, and a whole host of other soft information that was passively passed on to his brain. Genji curled up foetally and drifted into a light sleep.

***

He awoke to the sound of gentle, persistent knocking on wood. He blinked groggily.

 

“Master Genji?”

 

Genji sat up slowly. A small circle of light was coming through his screen door.

 

_02:01 | Download at 28.35%_

 

“Mrs Ito?” he called. The door shuffled open slightly. The receptionist’s lined, wary face appeared in the crack. She knelt in the doorway holding a small lantern.

 

“I am sorry to wake you, Master Genji. There is… there is a delicate matter that needs your attention,” she rose slowly to her feet.

 

Genji got up, blinking sleep from his eyes.

 

“What is it?” He joined her in the corridor and spoke in a hushed voice. The wooden floor was lit a faint pool of mellow orange from her lantern.

 

“A delicate matter, Master Genji. Please, please come this way.” She led him out into the front room, then pushed wide the front door. It was a chill night. A deep dark blue sky was sprinkled with stars part-drowned by the bleeding neon of the city. Fireflies turned in wreaths about Mrs Ito’s lantern. She came down the steps onto the street, holding her lantern high. The shadows beneath her moved and groaned. Genji frowned and drew closer. A man was sitting in the gutter. His hair was dishevelled and he waved hand vaguely to keep the light from his eyes. “It is not good for the master to be seen like this,” Mrs Ito whispered.

 

Genji’s heart sunk.

 

“Alright. Thank you. I will take care of this.”

 

Mrs Ito hobbled back inside.

 

Genji knelt next to the man. The man seemed not to notice him. He was feeling for a round bottle lying on the paving stones. His fingertips patted it, but it rolled further away. He reached again and this time managed to grab at it. He held the bottle upside down over his mouth, but nothing came out.

 

“Sake.” He demanded, and thrust the bottle into Genji’s chest.

 

“Hanzo,” Genji said quietly. “What have you done?”

 

“Killed my brother.” Hanzo pulled the bottle back towards him and shook it to check he hadn’t missed anything, “Killed my Genji.”

 

Genji’s throat tightened.

 

“I’m alive. I’m still here. I am Genji.”

 

“Dead,” Hanzo said. His head tipped back and his eyes stared emptily at the sky. “Sake.”

 

“Let me help you inside,” Genji said quietly, “You’re making a scene. You woke Mrs Ito.”

 

Genji reached out a hand and steadied his brother’s shoulder. Hanzo pushed him away.

 

“Killed him. Murdered. Murderer.”

 

“Let me take you inside,” Genji held his brother’s shoulder more firmly, “Come on, I have you.”

 

Hanzo’s head lolled forward until his forehead rested on Genji’s shoulder. Genji froze. He could feel his heart beating fast. He reached a hand slowly and placed it gently on the back of Hanzo’s head.

 

“It’s alright. I’m here. I’m with you,” he said, unsure what else to say.

 

“Genji,” Hanzo said softly, and sounded more comforted.

 

“Come on.” Genji wrapped an arm around his brother and stood slowly. Hanzo pitched forward and hung onto him. “Can you stand?” Hanzo said nothing. Genji held Hanzo upright with difficulty, “You always made this look so easy when you did it for me,” Genji laughed anxiously. He felt Hanzo slipping and swore. He caught him, knelt, then lifted him up more easily into his augmented arms. He carried Hanzo back up the steps and nudged the door open with a foot. He shut it behind him and moved slowly through the darkened inn. He walked to Hanzo’s room and slid the door open. He laid his brother down on the futon and drew a blanket over him.

 

“Idiot,” Genji muttered, brushing the stray hairs away that fell like cobwebs over his brother’s face. He looked down at the deep, troubled lines in his brother’s brow. When he wasn’t awake to school his expression into impassivity, Hanzo’s features settled back into expressions of sorrow and despair. Genji wondered how hadn’t noticed before how lost the man before him looked, barely a shell of his former composure. “What has become of us?” Genji said softly. Hanzo’s brow flickered in his sleep. At the sound of Genji’s voice, his face smoothed a little, and some of his worries slipped away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi *hands you my broken heart* here u can have this.
> 
> 2 scenes in this story were inspired by some beautiful art I saw. The first is in this chapter, inspired by [this piece](https://rowenheaven.tumblr.com/post/152218544221).


	16. Sunrise on a New Day

Reyes hit the control with his elbow and the door to the cockpit slid open. He set three takeaway boxes on the dashboard and threw himself into the spinning co-pilot chair.

 

“Went for the same again to minimise the likelihood of getting something I don’t want.”

 

“Gabriel, you complained about this food yesterday.” Ana was looking down at the city below through the window of the ORCA. A holographic display was laid over the view, detailing points of interest and known addresses of suspect persons in their system.

 

“But on the off chance a different option is _worse_.” Reyes opened his box and snapped apart a pair of disposable chopsticks. “Anything on comms?”

 

“All quiet. Although Jack called. For you.”

 

“’Course he did.”

 

“When are you going to sort whatever this is?” Ana swivelled her chair to face him and pulled her own box towards her.

 

“Whatever _what_ is?” Reyes said guardedly, deliberately concentrating on his food.

 

“He cares a lot for you, Gabriel, you know that, don’t you?”

 

“Funny way of showing it.” Gabriel said under his breath.

 

Ana gave him a look. Her dark eyes narrowed.

 

“Anyway, I left things good with him,” Gabriel continued, “I’m better at dealing with relationships than you are at least.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” It was Ana’s turn to look defensive.

 

“I know you ain’t rang Fareeha in forever.”

 

“She isn’t answering her phone! You think I haven’t tried calling her!?”

 

Reyes put his boots up on the dashboard and raised an eyebrow at Ana.

 

“Oh really, want to put that to the test?”

 

“Shut up, Gabriel. You can’t deal with your own problems, leave mine be.”

 

Gabriel put his hand in his back pocket with difficulty and pulled out his phone. He swiped through his contacts.

 

“Let’s see if she answers, shall we?”

 

“She won’t,” Ana said glumly.

 

Gabriel twirled his chopsticks in his hand as the phone rang. It rang for a while. Ana gave him an unimpressed look.

 

“Uncle Gabe!” An excited voice sounded through the phone.

 

“Oh hey, Kiddo.” He tilted his head at Ana and shrugged, “Hows it going? Boot camp treating you well?”

 

“Going good! Did a week of desert survival last week! Reminded me of when you let me parachute down into the Outback when I was little! Haha, do you remember you couldn’t find me for hours and I thought I was going to have to start killing snakes to stay alive!”

 

Reyes slapped his hand over the speaker,

 

“She’s joking, that never happened,” He whispered to Ana. He took his hand back off the speaker, “That’s good! Glad you’re having a good time, we’ll have you back home in no time once you got your basic training, there’s some Omnic trash out there with your name written on it.”

 

Ana’s eyes glared black holes into him. Reyes just grinned at her.

 

“Oh hey, Uncle Gabe, do you think when I do join, I could be part of Blackwatch?”

 

“Blackwatch?” Gabriel spun his chair slowly, tilting his head all the way back so that he still made eye contact with Ana as his chair turned a full circle, “Not Overwatch with your Uncle Jackie?”

 

“No… that’s where mother works and she’d be forever telling me I couldn’t go on any missions, if she even let me join in the first place.”

 

Reyes put his hand over the speaker again,

 

“Overwatch is where mom is,” He pulled a mock sad face. Ana threw a chopstick at him. Reyes ducked it.

 

“I’d rather be with you and Jesse. You guys get to have all the fun!” Fareeha exclaimed.

 

“That’s true, we do get to have all the fun,” Gabriel ducked the second chopstick thrown at him. “Hey Kiddo, I’m calling because someone here wants to have a chat.”

 

“Who does?” Fareeha sounded suspicious.

 

Reyes held his phone out to Ana. He nodded at it. Ana grabbed the phone, still giving Gabriel death glares.

 

“Hello, Fareeha.”

 

There was a pause from the other end.

 

“Hello, Mother.”

 

“Farayeeha, why don’t you call your mother? Why don’t you pick up my calls?”

 

“Because that’s what you always say when I call you.”

 

“I wouldn’t say ‘why don’t you call me’ if you called me sometimes.” Ana set her takeaway box down and shooed away Gabriel who was pulling a face that clearly said ‘yes you would’.

 

“What are you doing with Uncle Gabe? Are you on a mission? Where are you? Somewhere exciting?”

 

“Fareeha,” Ana said sharply. She was about to tell her that was classified, before she saw Gabriel tilt his head to one side and give her a big sigh. “Yes…” Ana said slowly, “I’m on a mission with Gabriel in Japan.”

 

“Japan!” Fareeha exclaimed, “There are some state of the art plans for security upgrades in Japan. Have you had a chance to look at any? You know in Korea they’re going to start building mech suits? Do you know if there are similar plans to-”

 

“Can’t I just ask how my daughter is?”

 

There was another awkward pause. Reyes put his head in his hand.

 

“I’m fine, Mother.” The excitement in Fareeha’s voice had died.

 

“Are you eating well?”

 

“Yes, Mother.”

 

“And are you still sure… that you want to...” Ana broke off. Reyes was waving his palm before his neck telling her to kill the topic.

 

“That I want to _what_ , _Mother?_ ” Fareeha spoke with an edge in her voice.

 

“Nothing. Nevermind. So…” Ana sat back in her chair, “I… was thinking of buying some tea here. It’s meant to be very nice. Would you like some tea? Do you still drink tea?”

 

“I drink coffee.”

 

“Okay. But maybe you’d like a little bit of tea. It’s not every day you get to try it from Japan.”

 

“Are you asking me if I like something or are you telling me that I have to have it? This is always the problem, you ask me a question but you don’t want to here me speak! You have a preset answer in your head for what I will say, and if it’s not what you want to hear, you ignore me!”

 

“Fine, you don’t have to have tea. Is that better?”

 

“Mother, this isn’t about tea!”

 

“ _I_ was talking about tea!”

 

“Urgh! I’m going to hang up! Bye Uncle Gabe!”

 

“Bye, Kiddo!” Gabriel called. The phone went dead. “See?” Gabriel swiped it out of Ana’s hands, “Told you she’d pick up.”

 

Ana pulled her takeaway box back to her and started eating again, still glowering. Reyes grinned at her.

 

“Hey, where’s Ray, his lunch is going cold.”

 

“I’ll call him.” Ana pressed a button on the dashboard. The holo-overlay of the city flickered, and a changed to form the giant words ‘CALLING...’ next to a picture of Jack Morrison’s face. “Oh whoops. Wrong button.”

 

“Ana?!”

 

Ana stood and picked up her lunch and the remaining box.

 

“Guess I’ll go give this to Ray. Remember to be nice, Gabriel.”

 

“Turn it off! Don’t-”

 

Ana winked at him and shuffled sideways out the cockpit door and into the ship living quarters, boxes and chopsticks filling her arms.

 

Gabriel stretched over the dash, but before he could cancel the call, it was picked up. He sat back quickly in his chair in an effort to look cool and relaxed.

 

“Hey, Jackie.”

 

A 3D projection of Jack’s face hovered above the dashboard. The eyes lit up when he saw who was calling him.

 

“Oh, you got my message from Ana?”

 

“The one to call you back, uh huh. That’s why I’m calling.”

 

Jack beamed,

 

“So… how’s the mission going?”

 

“Good,” Reyes filled in lamely. He had a feeling Ana had already said everything important that needed to be said.

 

“Angela is asking after Genji. She was worried that she hadn’t managed to do anything about the humidity thing and his armour.

 

“Kid’s doing fine.”

 

“And there are no problems with him and his brother?”

 

“Not yet,” Reyes shoved noodles in his mouth and slurped them up.

 

“Is that a takeout? It’s been years since I had a good takeout. I only ever used to go with you when you got tired of canteen food. I kind of forget to go out and enjoy food when you’re not about to point out the stuff we eat most days is terrible.” Jack laughed a little self-consciously.

 

“Well, you always liked terrible food, Jack. Even back in SEP. I’m pretty sure you were the only one who liked that crap.”

 

“Oh, I didn’t like that.”

 

“You did! You wolfed it down and always went on about it!”

 

“Not really, I just wanted to impress you.”

 

“ _Seriously_?” Reyes cocked an eyebrow at the hologram, “All these years you let me believe you loved that tasteless mush they gave us?”

 

“Well, you were always going around judging everyone, so I had to try look tough somehow.”

 

“Yeah, that’s what the sparring ring was for, and field missions, and shooting practice, and assault courses-”

 

“I was doing my best with all that too. What can I say, you’re a hard guy to impress.”

 

Reyes snorted, and returned his gaze to his noodles.

 

“Are you embarrassed?” Jack was incredulous.

 

“Yeah, embarrassed to know you. How can you be so shameless about this stuff?!”

 

Jack grinned,

 

“I’m not shameless, you know how easily I get awkward and shy, especially if people start suspecting I’m not the model soldier they expect me to be. I just never saw much point in hiding that from you, because you never mistook me for a model soldier!”

 

Gabriel laughed,

 

“Well, these days you could fool me.”

 

Jack smiled, but then a pall of realisation fell over his face and his smile vanished,

 

“W-what… what do you mean?”

 

“Come on, Jack, you know what I mean.” Reyes rolled his eyes, “Here comes that good old dose of Morrison modesty.” Gabriel couldn’t stop from laughing as Jack’s face went dark red. “You’re a super solider in charge of the most powerful paramilitary organisation on the planet, don’t tell me you still need me to feed you complements in order to be proud of what you’ve become, Jackie.”

 

“I…” Jack’s face was going through stages of stunned embarrassment, “It’s… uh… it’s very different coming from you. Anyone can say ‘oh you’re pretty good at that’, but when it’s your old commander who knew what a dumb idiot you were at nineteen…”

 

“Yeah, no kidding, you at nineteen is not something I need reminding of. With your baby face and home-knitted socks.”

 

“2040 Vancouver, I don’t remember you complaining when you stole them and wore them all winter.”

 

“Never happened.” Reyes said flatly. “Wouldn’t be seen dead wearing no Morrison Indiana socks.”

 

“Did too happen. You wore holes in them. My Ma had to darn them.”

 

Gabriel covered his face with his hand,

 

“God, I can’t believe I just heard that sentence come out of your mouth. Just listening to you makes me cringe.”

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever. You just let me tag a long to make you look good _et cetera et cetera_. Gabriel Reyes and his carefully tailored aesthetic doesn’t need some farm boy ruining his big city credentials, heard it all before, remember?”

 

“Damn right you have.”

 

Jack gave him an easy smile. Gabriel felt his stomach flutter.

 

“Bring me back something nice from Japan.”

 

“Yeah, it’ll be a cardboard box full of blackmarket Omnic parts.”

 

“Oof. Cold. Guess I’ll settle for that then. Talk to you later, Gabe.”

 

“See ya, Jackie.”

 

Jack ended the communication. Gabriel sat, contemplative, looking at the place where the hologram had been. The remaining noodles had gone cold in their paper box.

 

Ana came back in shortly after,

 

“Everything go OK?”

 

“What? Yep.” Gabriel stood quickly. “Yep. All good.” He picked up his box and left to dispose of it.

 

Ana watched him leave, eyebrows raised.

***

The next morning Hanzo awoke with a thundering in his skull. The light was too bright, the blanket was too hot, and there was a pain behind his eyes. He reached for his sake bottle, feeling around for its usual place near his bow. When he came up empty he cracked one eye open, weathering the glaring light. Nothing. He closed his eyes and rubbed a hand hard across them. He sat up slowly and opened both eyes. There was definitely no bottle.

 

_Genji,_ was his first thought, and not an endearing one.

 

There was a knock on the wooden frame of the door. It rung like a pounding drum through Hanzo’s ears.

 

“What?” He snapped.

 

The door slid open slightly. The kindly Mrs Ito was kneeling in the corridor. She pushed in a small tray with a hot steaming teapot and a single cup.

 

“Ginseng for you, Master Shimada.”

 

“Fetch me a bottle of sake.”

 

Mrs Ito bowed to him,

 

“I am sorry. Master Genji forbade me from doing such a thing.”

 

“And who is Kumichō of the Shimada, me or _Master_ Genji?”

 

Fear flitted into Mrs Ito’s eyes. She hesitated, then nodded and stood. She slid the door back.

 

Hanzo sat cross-legged, looking at the tea that had been left behind. He gave a huff and turned around, so that his back was to it.

 

It felt like a lifetime before he heard feet again on the wood beyond his door. The door shuffled open.

 

“Leave the sake. Take the tea and go.”

 

Hanzo frowned when there was a lack of movement. He looked over his shoulder. Genji stood in the doorway. Hanzo gave a huff of frustration and returned his attention forward.

 

“It was not nice to scare Mrs Ito like that. She was only doing what I asked,” Genji said.

 

“Then you were a fool to involve her.” Talking hurt his head. Everything hurt his head. Hanzo kept his back straight and his gaze straight on. He at least didn’t have to let on how much everything hurt.

 

“The Ginseng will help.”

 

“Did I ask for help?” He snapped. Last night was cloudy, but he recalled Genji in the street, speaking with him. He hoped he hadn’t shown too much vulnerability. The last thing he wanted was to be pitied by the person he’d destroyed.

 

“You never ask for help. Does not mean it won’t be offered.”

 

Hanzo hesitated. Genji sounded so different, so even and calm, so different from the angry, hurt, broken thing he’d been forcing himself to watch over the last few days. Anger and hurt he could deal with, but this new attitude frightened him.

 

“I don’t want help,” Hanzo said, more guardedly.

 

“You don’t want it, or you don’t think you deserve it?”

 

Hanzo’s eyes widened. He directed his gaze firmly into a corner and pursed his lips into a thin straight line. There was a long silence. He let his hair fall over his face.

 

“Leave me the sake and go.”

 

There was thud. A glass bottle rolled into Hanzo’s peripheral vision. The colourless contents sloshed as it rolled.

 

“Stop mourning me.” Genji sounded more like his angry self again, “I’m not dead.”

 

The door slid shut, and Hanzo heard the heavy stomp of Genji’s feet move away.

 

When he’d finished the bottle his head felt clearer. Hanzo dressed himself in a new kimono, combed his hair and checked his appearance in a mirror. When he was done he held himself proud again. He strode out to the front room and sat himself at the table where McCree and Genji were. McCree paused with a syrupy plum half way to his mouth, he continued eating quickly when Hanzo gave him a cursory unimpressed glance.

 

Mrs Ito came and laid out bowls of food for Hanzo. Her movements were furtive and she avoided his eye.

 

“Anything else I can get you, Master?” She said quietly.

 

“Tea,” Hanzo replied, “And please fill my bottle.”

 

“What bottle?” She glanced around.

 

Genji gave a heavy sigh. He drew Hanzo’s flask from where he’d been hiding it and handed it to Mrs Ito.

 

“Today we should head to Araya. You may inform your commander of the address, since it is possible we may be unwelcome.” Hanzo switched to English and began to eat.

 

“Unwelcome at this place we’re goin’? What sorta unwelcome? We goin’ in loaded sorta thing or it might be just the conversation could go south?” McCree spoke with a mouth full of food.

 

Hanzo winced distastefully,

 

“I can barely understand what you’re saying. Bring your weapon of choice. Hopefully we can have an amiable discussion with Mr Sasaki. He may even have the item we need on his person, and if not, he may hand us over the name and address of who he sold it on too. We are fellow businessmen, after all.”

 

“And… if it don’t go so prettily?”

 

“Then you can show me if you carry around that revolver just for show, Mr McCree.”

 

McCree blushed,

 

“Ain’t no one ever called me mister before.”

 

“Don’t worry, you can be sure at any given moment that Hanzo’s being eighty percent facetious.” Genji gave his brother a look.

 

“Mr McCree got kinda a nice ring to it,” Jesse muttered into his breakfast. “Genji, you already eaten?”

 

Genji blinked,

 

“Yes,” He said, irritated that the topic had been brought up before Hanzo. He’d so far managed to avoid eating in Hanzo’s presence. The idea of his brother seeing him feed himself through a tube made his insides run cold.

 

“Okay, cause if you ain’t, the boss is gonna have my head. I already got a right tellin’ off for leaving you guys yesterday. He hasn’t laid into me like that for a while.”

 

“Understandable,” Hanzo said casually, picking at fresh fruit and steamed rice alternately with his chopsticks, “I assumed you were here because Commander Reyes doesn’t trust me. He made it abundantly clear that he’d put a bullet in my head if I so much as looked at Genji the wrong way. I was somewhat surprised when you left yesterday.”

 

“Right,” Jesse’s expression went dark, and Reyes’ words still chafed inside him, “Well you two just looked so pally yesterday I guess I clean forgot you tried to murder your own brother.”

 

Genji and Hanzo stiffened as one.

 

Jesse returned to stuffing food in his mouth. He had difficulty because the plums kept slipping from his grasp.

 

“I can’t get this damn fruit in my mouth! Is it so much to ask for a bowl o’ Cherrios!?”

 

The tension went out of Genji’s shoulders and he laughed.

 

Hanzo watched him, curious.

 

“Glad, my sufferin’s a cause o’ amusement for you, Genji Shimada!” Jesse glared at Genji, but without venom.

 

“Need me to feed it to you?” Genji laughed.

 

“No, I do not! I’d never live that down!”

 

“Watching you fail is the funniest thing! It’s sort of painful to watch!”

 

“Yeah, thanks, good to know this is what real friends look like. How about you make yourself useful ‘n’ go call the boss, seein’ as you _are_ meant to be in charge o’ this mission.”

 

Genji stood, still chuckling slightly, he walked backwards so that he could keep watching McCree.

 

“I ain’t eatin’ a single bite more ‘til you cleared out o’ here!”

 

Genji ducked out of the room. McCree shook his head in exasperation, returning his attention to the operation before him. He picked up his chopsticks again and eyed the bowls before him.

 

“He laughs with you.”

 

McCree looked up slowly. He wasn’t sure if Hanzo was just talking aloud or saying that directly to him. He wasn’t sure which possibility was more mortifying. Hanzo had paused, an elegant hand stroking his beard whilst his thoughts rested elsewhere.

 

“It has been a long time since I heard him happy. Even before… everything. He could never be like that around me.” Hanzo’s voice was quiet.

 

Jesse returned his gaze to his food. He could feel his face heating up with how personal the conversation suddenly felt.

 

“That ain’t true. He was tellin’ me about all the times you used to play games with him when you were kids. Tellin’ me his favourites and how much he liked it when you had time for him.”

 

“That was a _very_ long time ago,” Hanzo said softly.

 

“Seems like he thought the world o’ you then.”

 

Hanzo nodded faintly,

 

“They were different times. He spent a long time begging me to return to them. When I did not, he became harder. Put on a shell of self-sufficiency. As if to prove to me he needed no one, and could have a good time on his own without me.” A frown touched Hanzo’s brow, “He was uncontrollable, extravagant in his tastes, and reckless in his enjoyment of them. It was his attempt at freedom. His attempt at showing the world that he didn’t need the clan and didn’t need me.”

 

McCree lowered his chopsticks.

 

“Why’d you do it?”

 

Hanzo looked him straight in the eye. Like that the spell was broken. Jesse saw the severe mask return to the face of the man before him.

 

“Eat up. The day is passing and we have places to be.” Hanzo stood and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My new favourite thing is making people who hate each other be kind to each other. Just doing normal nice kind things. I normally write super gorey action stories, so people bein kind is my new hot find.
> 
> Also I’m Pharah and Ana is my mum. Last time I called her she literally said this and I said mum do you know I wrote a story recently where this exact dialogue happened and she found that very funny -.-
> 
> Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and comments, it's a real pleasure reading them all! You can find me on [tumblr](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com), please feel free to drop me a message there!
> 
> Also I drew some chilled out pre-accident pictures of Genji and his bro recently, [here](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/post/183480674221/instead-of-working-i-made-these-shimada-bros-in) and [here](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/post/183629884606/more-genji-shimada-loitering-about-in-the)


	17. Meeting the Old Genji Shimada

They met in an unfurnished apartment on the fourth floor of a block in south Akita megacity. Reyes had rented it short term off a seedy looking seller whom he was sure had bumped up the price three times as much because they were foreigners. Jesse, Genji and Hanzo were unimpressed when they entered the place. Ana and Gabriel didn’t mind, they’d camped out in worse, and were more concerned about the sniper shots one could make from the window than the need for furniture. They had set up a small desk and laid it out with the bare necessities of their surveillance equipment. Two thin sleeping bags lay on the floor. Other than that the apartment was bare.

 

“I can find more comfortable accommodation at no cost at all, if that is preferable,” Hanzo said after giving the flat a brief, disdainful look over.

 

“The idea is to be incognito,” Ana sounded tired, “calling in favours is not inconspicuous.”

 

“It wouldn’t be a favour,” Hanzo said mildly, “merely some well placed threats.”

 

“Hey, this guy’s growing on me,” Reyes tilted his head Hanzo’s way. “If you weren’t on my list of least favourite people, I’d consider offering you a job.”

 

“And I would refuse,” Hanzo replied coldly.

 

“Right, settle down.” Reyes ignored that last jab, “let’s go over everything we’ve got so far.”

 

Genji sat himself cross-legged on the ground. McCree leant against the wall, for once quiet, hat tipped slightly over his eyes. Hanzo stood in the centre of the room to speak.

 

“A member of the Shimada Clan, Mr Akemi, sold a number of Omnic weapons here in Araya to one Mr Sasaki of the Yaushiro Clan. The bad news is, the weapon in question was a prototype Bastion turret, and very much functional should it be connected to the right machinery. The good news is, the Yaushiro are still part of the same brother organisation the Shimada are, we are all one Akita family, and I may be able to persuade Mr Sasaki to part with the weapons non-violently, as they are still Shimada property.”

 

Reyes nodded,

 

“Good.”

 

He caught sight of a slight twitch in Genji’s movements,

 

“Do you agree?” Reyes turned to Genji.

 

The cyborg looked up at him and then Hanzo, as if surprised he’d been consulted. He seemed impossibly young to Reyes just then, but some of the furtive vulnerability that had been haunting Genji had gone. Reyes frowned, wondering what had passed between the Shimada brothers to set Genji more at ease.

 

“It’s not the way I would do it...” Genji said slowly.

 

“Why not?” That was Hanzo. He faced Genji and folded his arms.

 

“You hate Sasaki-san. And I’m pretty sure he hates you too. But he likes me.”

 

“He likes _you_?” Hanzo repeated, derision in his voice, “what makes you think he likes you, Genji? As I recall you kept your nose well out of family business like this.”

 

“I use to hit up all the arcades in his part of town. Made him a lot of money parting with my well-earned Shimada inheritance.”

 

Hanzo gave an exhausted huff and turned away.

 

“Think you can sweet talk this guy, Genji?” Reyes asked.

 

“I think so, Commander. But it would be odd to go straight to his door. If he first heard I was back in town, that would make things easier. I could play a few games at my old haunts, spectacularly lose enough cash for him to notice me, then refuse to pay. I’ll get taken to him, then point out that he’s in possession of Shimada property and that we could come to some kind of arrangement.”

 

“Absolutely not!” Hanzo snapped. “Only a complete imbecile could come up with something as ludicrous as that! Have you forgotten who you’re dealing with!? You do not walk into Yaushiro territory alone, owing them money and refusing to pay! You’re asking for a death sentence!”

 

Genji waved him away,

 

“It’ll be fine. I did it before once.”

 

“You _what_?!” Hanzo exclaimed.

 

Genji shied away a little from that explosive temper.

 

“Calm the fuck down,” Reyes growled.

 

Hanzo’s eyes flicked to the commander and he took a step back. His face was still furious.

 

“Yeah,” Genji shrugged, “I once didn’t have the cash after I lost a few games. They took me out back and had a quiet word. I explained who I was and everything was smoothed over. I think father paid up for me a week later or something.”

 

Hanzo put a hand over his face, and began muttering extended curses of disbelief in his native tongue.

 

“When you’ve got a reputation for a bit of trouble, no one minds too much if they need to bend the rules for you. Especially if they know you’ll pay up eventually, and keep coming back to make them more money.” Genji stretched and yawned.

 

“Alright,” Reyes said, “Sounds like a plan.”

 

“Commander,” Hanzo’s eyes were fury black, “I strongly object to this suggestion. Just because Genji’s idiocy has not got him killed in the past, does not mean we can count on such fortune in future.”

 

“Real touchin’ you actin’ like you care for his wellbeing,” McCree said from under the shadow of his hat.

 

Hanzo’s eyes flashed dangerously.

 

“If Hanzo believes this plan puts Genji in unnecessary danger,” Ana weighed in, “then it seems to me like other options should also be considered.”

 

“Sure,” Reyes said, in a tone that fooled no one, “aaand, there, considered the options and overruled them. Genji, get ready, you’re going out.”

 

“Commander,” Hanzo stepped forward into the commander’s space. Reyes squared up. He was a lot taller and looked straight down at Hanzo, daring him to challenge him. Hanzo stayed put, “Genji will gain just as much attention loosing money and paying up. Especially if it is a large amount. The Shimada Clan still has considerable wealth. Let me use it to cover his losses. He will be called before the Kumichō of the Yaushiro on favourable grounds, rather than to account for himself.”

 

“You can’t guarantee I’ll be called up for that,” Genji said from the floor, looking on with casual interest as his brother sized up before the commander.

 

“If you squander an extortionate amount in one go, you will. I can liquidate one-hundred-and-forty-five million yen and get it to you by eight P.M this evening.”

 

Genji’s eyes widened,

 

“That…- You don’t… need to do that,” his heart was beating fast, “I’ll be fine doing this my way…”

 

“Commander,” Hanzo ignored Genji and looked straight at Reyes, “it is money I do not care for, and it will ensure Genji both a private, unassuming meeting with the Yaushiro Kumichō, and Genji’s safety.”

 

Reyes frowned,

 

“You sure?”

 

“Positive,” Hanzo replied.

 

Genji stood. He shifted uncomfortably.

 

“ _If you’re trying to prove something-_ ” Genji said in Japanese.

 

“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Hanzo replied in open English, “I merely have stock of my priorities. My way is the safest.”

 

Genji fell silent. He looked at the floor. He metallic toes clacked off the wood parquet. There was a pause. Reyes looked over Hanzo’s head to Genji.

 

“This suit you, Kid?”

 

Genji nodded mutely.

 

“Fine.” Reyes returned his attention to Hanzo, “what do you need?”

 

“A computer, a phone, and time to make some calls. It’ll take a little longer to get the cash ready, but all will be in order by tonight.”

 

Genji ran his hand through his hair, still stiff and awkward,

 

“Anything I can do to help?”

 

“I should think not,” Hanzo said mildly, “we were very thorough to ensure no family accounts were in your name.”

 

Genji blushed and fell silent.

 

“Good work,” Reyes picked up a heavy overcoat, “let’s meet back in an hour and take stock. I’m stepping out. Jesse, you’re with me.”

 

McCree blinked and pushed his hat up. He followed the commander a little reluctantly. They stepped into a cool stairwell. Jesse had been expecting the commander to take a left down the stairs, but instead Reyes punched the lift controls. Jesse joined him in the lift. He frowned slightly when the commander hit the controls to go up, but said nothing. The air felt heavy between them. Jesse kept his gaze lowered.

 

They stepped out of the lift onto an empty concrete corridor. Reyes opened a fire escape onto a balcony. Jesse followed him, but immediately flattened himself against the wall and clutched his hat. There was a brisk wind and a sharp drop hundreds of meters down to the ground. They were at the top of the tower block, with a startling view punctuated by other immense towers that glittered silver in the afternoon sun.

 

“Long way down,” Jesse remarked, mostly because the silence was becoming painfully uncomfortable, “ought I to be worried?”

 

Reyes raised his eyebrows.

 

“Lone fella gettin’ taken to the top of a tower by Commander Gabriel Reyes,” Jesse mused, “sounds like a story with a bad endin’, just sayin’.”

 

“It might do,” Reyes returned, “had not Commander Gabriel Reyes spend the last ten years looking out for this ‘lone fella’.”

 

Jesse blushed and looked down,

 

“Didn’t mean to sound ungrateful or nothin’,” he muttered.

 

Reyes reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigars. Jesse watched a little wistfully. Reyes offered him one.

 

“Oh, n-no that’s ok,” Jesse stammered, “I know you got a brand you like and-”

 

Reyes shook the packet at him. Jesse reached and took one. Reyes clicked a lighter under his, then offered it to Jesse. There was quiet as they both drew in a breath and blew out smoke that was snatched away on the wind.

 

“Damn,” Jesse murmured, “see why you like ‘em.”

 

Reyes took another deep pull and let the smoke unfurl from his nose,

 

“Everything good, Jesse?”

 

Jesse had a feeling he wasn’t being asked about the cigar.

 

“Yep. Yep, of course.”

 

“You were very quiet back there.”

 

“Just didn’t have much to say.” Jesse scuffed his feet and set one of his spurs spinning and ringing. The wind scattered the burning end of his cigar. He drew his serape closer about him, “it’s weird having this Hanzo around is all. Can’t place him, or work out if being around him is good for Genji. And…” He trailed off.

 

“And?” Reyes was looking out over the cityscape.

 

Jesse shrugged,

 

“Guess it was bothering me that… you know.” Jesse took another smoke, but drew it in the wrong way and coughed. “I don’t like lettin’ you down is all.”

 

Reyes finally looked at him, as though he’d been waiting for that admission. Jesse rubbed his forehead, then gave another small cough to get the last of the smoke out of his lungs.

 

“You got back on point before any problems went down,” Reyes said.

 

“Not before you got proper mad though,” Jesse said, though then regretted it.

 

Reyes raised an eyebrow,

 

“Think I was too hard on you?”

 

“You did say I had no sense o’ loyalty or responsibility and that you were mighty disappointed in me.”

 

“Well,” Reyes tapped the end of his cigar against the wall. The ashes were snatched away on the breeze, “you were being a complete idiot.”

 

“Not enough of an idiot for you to call me disloyal.”

 

Reyes looked sideways at Jesse. Jesse had his hat tipped forward to leave his face in shadows. There weren’t many things that got to Jesse these days, but the commander could still put holes in his self-confidence, in part because he’d been responsible for restoring it to him. Jesse had still been a child when he’d been recruited to Blackwatch. He hadn’t felt like a child at the time. He’d felt like a man who’d lived his whole life already, and knew himself, and knew his friends. Ten minutes of sitting in a detention room with Reyes had changed all that. In those brief moments, the stark reality of his situation had dawned on him. He was looking at a lifetime in a maximum security prison, where everything he thought of as him would be taken from him. He would be a no-one all over again, and what few talents he had would be meaningless. His life would again become a struggle just to survive, just to pass each day without attracting the wrong attention. His confidence had shattered in the face of that reality. When Reyes had finally laid out an alternative, Jesse had jumped on the possibility, practically begging to be taken. Everything he had now he owed to Reyes, and just as all that confidence had once been built on his sense of belonging to the Deadlock Gang, so now did he draw purpose from being a part of Blackwatch. There were fractional moments like these, where he felt like that child again – alone, afraid, all the armour of belonging stripped from him.

 

“You’re right,” Reyes said, “I shouldn’t’ve said that.” Jesse didn’t trust himself to speak. “Everyone makes mistakes. Yours was leaving the mission. Mine was letting my temper get the better of me. A regular mistake of mine.”

 

Jesse didn’t think he’d ever heard the commander admit to making mistakes before. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand.

 

“S’alright. You didn’t even really lose your temper. Think I mostly just… ah, whatever. Guess I’m just overemotional. Gettin’ in a fuss about nothin’.” He adjusted his hat to make sure his eyes were hidden.

 

Reyes considered for a long moment,

 

“Not sure if I’ve said it enough to you, but the reason I can say that stuff – get pissed at you for walking out, be disappointed in you at all – is because I can rely on you. Every day I’m not shouting at you is a day I’m proud of you, you know that, right?”

 

“Boss, you shout most days.”

 

Reyes face cracked into a grin. Jesse joined him and they laughed.

 

“Don’t waste that cigar,” Reyes nodded at the burning stub going to waste, “cost more than you’re outfit.”

 

“There he is. Shamelessly rude about another man’s style when all he wears is black. Black, black, black. Like your-”

 

“Soul?”

 

“Was gonna say coffee, but sure, you’re the boss.”

 

Reyes grinned and slapped Jesse on the shoulder, making him choke on cigar smoke again.

 

“Yeah, go back to smoking the cheap stuff, Kid.”

 

“You made me choke that time!” Jesse spluttered. He flicked the cigar stub away and followed the commander back into the stairwell. “And damn, you’re pep talks are to die for – you know Morrison’s lot get the hope, courage, responsibility spiel, fate of the world on their shoulders ‘n’ all that. I get what? A cigar and a mouthful of abuse!”

 

“A Cuban cigar, Jesse. Never forget.”

 

***

 

Genji sat on the floor watching as Hanzo worked.

 

“Yes, you heard me correctly,” his brother was saying, “all the shares. No… No. Mr Teramoto, I do not care if the entire company collapses, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. Why? Why does anyone do anything? Whim, Mr Teramoto, and because I can. Now are you going to do as I ask or do I have to come in person and make myself clear to you? Good. Excellent. I’m glad we understand each other, goodbye.” Hanzo looked at the phone in his hand with disgust.

 

“It’s kind of amazing how you can be so polite but also be saying fuck you at the same time.”

 

“Thank you, it is a practised quality.” Hanzo began typing a new number into the phone.

 

“Why are you doing this?” Genji asked.

 

“There is a mission that needs completing. This is the most efficient way to do so.”

 

“If you really wanted to look out for me, why couldn’t you have fought with the clan elders?”

 

Hanzo stopped dialling,

 

“Are we really doing this now?”

 

Genji fell silent.

 

Hanzo took a deep breath and turned off the phone screen.

 

“I did fight with them. I argued with them at length. Their order was given months before. I stalled, giving you different opportunities to prove their concerns wrong: trying to speak with you about your future responsibilities in the clan; trying to get you to see that the path you were walking could never sit well with the clan elders; trying to let you know that without father around, it was only a matter of time before they took matters into their own hands.”

 

“Sounds like you were mostly fighting me, not them.”

 

Hanzo’s face darkened,

 

“My duty was to my family. I did what I had to do. It does not mean I do not regret it.”

 

“But… I’m your family…” Genji said in a small voice.

 

Hanzo was silent for a long moment,

 

“You were lost to me long before that day. I could not reach you.”

 

“You never tried.”

 

“Genji!” Hanzo said sharply, “do not tell me I did not try. That is one thing I am _not_ guilty of.” There was anger and hurt in his face.

 

“But I always wanted you with me. I was always asking you just to come with me for one day, just to leave the world at home and have a little fun once in a while. I asked you so much and so often, that mother told me to stop, because she wasn’t sure what you’d do if I kept bothering you. I just wanted my brother back, but whenever you spoke to me you were just a face for the clan. When we were younger we-”

 

“When we were _younger,_ we could be _children_. But then it was required of us to _grow up._ Which you could never understand.”

 

“You grew up too fast.”

 

“And you never grew up at all.”

 

Genji touched a hand to his forehead in frustration. He pulled his hand away suddenly and looked at it. It was a metal hand. He stared at it. It began to tremble. Genji stood abruptly, and looked down at the strange machine parts connected to him. His breathing became unsteady.

 

“Is something wrong?” Hanzo’s voice was different: softer, concerned.

 

Genji felt with his human hand, touching his chest where the organic scarring melded into plate.

 

“Genji?” Hanzo put down the phone. “What is it?”

 

Genji touched his fingers to the metal mask on his face, then felt around to his spine with its plugs and wires and tubes. His heart was beating fast.

 

“Genji?” Hanzo took him by the shoulders. “Genji,” he said more firmly.

 

Genji paused, and looked into the familiar face before him, calling his name. His breathing slowly regulated. He took deep breaths. The wild look in his eyes calmed.

 

Genji nodded slightly,

 

“I’m fine.”

 

Hanzo frowned in concern.

 

“I said I’m fine.” Genji shook free of his brother. He retreated to a corner of the room and watched as Hanzo reluctantly returned to making the calls he needed.

 

Within the next hour, they were all collected back in the apartment. Reyes and McCree stunk of cigar smoke and Ana waved away the smell disapprovingly.

 

“All done,” Hanzo reported, “give it a couple of hours and everything will be in order.”

 

“Enough time to kick back and do some fine dining!”

 

Genji noticed that Jesse seemed much brighter than he had before.

 

Reyes nodded slowly,

 

“We have some time on our hands, so entertain yourselves for a bit.”

 

Hanzo turned to Ana,

 

“It would be my pleasure to show you a good tea room, Captain Amari.”

 

Genji looked on as the others began making plans for food and sampling local delicacies. He thought of the crate full of liquid ration packs sitting in the cargo hold of the ORCA. He dimmed the lights in his armour so that he didn’t draw anyone’s eye and make them feel guilty. He could still feel a little excited on their behalf as they discussed the new things they wished to try. The longer he watched them making plans, though, the more he felt a distance grow between him and them. Soon he felt disconnected again, and his mind was wandering back to Hanzo’s words – that Genji was lost to him – that he had a duty to family – and that Genji’s wasn’t included in that duty.

 

“Genji.”

 

Genji looked up. Hanzo was before him. He held out a small plastic see-through card.

 

“There’s twenty-two thousand on there now. When the transfers go through, there’ll be about one-hundred-and-forty-five million yen on this card. It’s under your name. Make sure you spend it all in one go.”

 

Genji leaned back against the wall, keen not to let his brother see his melancholy.

 

“Think I’ve been waiting all my life to hear you say that,” Genji said mildly. He took the plastic card and rolled it through his fingers like one of his shuriken.

 

“Be careful,” Hanzo added, “these are dangerous people.”

 

“What’s the worst that could happen,” Genji said dully.

 

He saw Hanzo’s face flicker with pain, but glanced away and pretended not to notice it.

 

“ _The worst that could happen is that I lose someone I only just got back,”_ Hanzo whispered in Japanese.

 

Genji’s eyes snapped back to Hanzo. He stared at him. Hanzo strode back to where Ana was packing a small satchel, and waited for her.

 

“He being rude again?” Jesse asked.

 

“Not exactly,” Genji murmured. He stood and straightened the now slightly crumpled suit he was wearing.

 

“Hey, fancy comin’ with me ‘n’ the boss? Maybe you can recommend us somewhere to grab a bite.”

 

Genji shook his head,

 

“Going to test this,” he twirled the card, “and watch the digits go up.” The idea of not being near people who knew him was feeling very attractive just then.

 

“Oh, okay.” McCree sounded a little disappointed. “Well, the boss wanted me to join you for the whole gamblin’ stunt, that ok?”

 

“Sure,” Genji gave, “I’ll save the real fun until you arrive. I’ll message you when the money has gone through. Or you can call when you are finished with food.”

 

Genji pocketed the card then meandered over to a window. He slid it across, letting the cool air ruffle his face.

 

“Don’t get yourself into trouble until Jesse’s joined you,” Reyes said to him.

 

“Of course, Commander,” Genji said, then vaulted out the window.

 

McCree’s eyes widened and he ran to the sill. Genji landed the fall easily then stood straight.

 

“Damn! We’re on the fourth floor!”

 

“So much for trying to lie low,” Ana muttered.

 

“There won’t be any lying low when there’s Genji and several million yen involved,” Hanzo put in, “this is why we needed him for this mission. It’ll be one long controlled fall from here on out. You just have to make sure he doesn’t crash and burn.” Hanzo zipped his bow into a travel case and slung it over his shoulder. “Shall we?” he said to Ana.

 

***

 

The air was thick with rhythm that reverberated through the floor and up into his body. The room was dark and in this single womb everyone was alike. The lights above glanced in irregular flashes; ultra-violet and winks of colour in time with the throb of the music. The heavy base and distorted electronic remix of old techno beats wound in with syncopated synthesisers and half tone scales from a dozen different cultures. The globalised blend of music in the mid-twenty-first century had its own borderless flavour. In the darkened caverns where the music played non-stop, there was no omnic and human, no country or nation, no rich and poor. Sounds crashed together in a forbidden, liberating darkness. Genji let that noise take him away: take him away from the prison of his broken body, the way that it had always taken him away from the prison of his strict upbringing. He danced freely in the anonymity of the crowd, letting his limbs move as one until he was not just one body, but one with the flow of music about him. He let his dance become more energetic, borrowing snatches from kata and freestyling athletic moves that span into somersaults. A space emerged for him and strangers faces looked on in awe, swaying to his lead and cheering as he bent the evening to his dance. He flicked the lights in his armour on and there was a wowed gasp, followed by more cheers. He did not have time to be self-conscious. He let his lights flash in time to the music, synced to the neon lights above and the bass pounding through his bones. In places without eyes he could still feel like one thing. That gave him a hope that stayed even after he left the dancehall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Reyes and Hanzo try to fix things with cigars and credit cards, with mixed success. Thanks for your comments and I hope the new readers stick around and enjoy the story!
> 
> Feel free to message me on [Tumblr!](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/)


	18. Playing to Lose

Jesse was a little unsure of himself as he hugged the wall of a busy Akita street. Towers of light were all about him and the traffic had been redirected so that the roads could fill with pedestrians out for the night life. Laughing groups clumped together in packs milled the roads, pointing and singing as they wandered. Different establishments flogged their wares with light shows, advertising their contents in enormous 3D images projected onto the street. Animated characters danced to blaring music and competed with rival holograms from different stores.

 

Jesse had been to his share of cities, mostly with Blackwatch operations. His childhood had taken him from farm living to sticking up transport trucks and low flying cargo planes in canyons. He’d occasioned into city suburbs but always been aware that he was in his essence in the rocky hillscapes that leant him their shadows to flee to when things turned sour. Even with Blackwatch sending him across the globe, covert was usually a keyword, and the busiest of cities became like the familiar canyons of home by night. Not here. Here it was so bright his eyes hurt with the unnatural light. It seemed brighter by night than by day. He was meant to be meeting Genji outside some nightclub, and had the name printed out in large characters so that he could match it to the sign when he saw it. He held up his piece of paper as he passed under every neon name, trying to see if he’d found the place. He was jostled from behind as a crowd moved passed him. He clutched his hat before he lost it, then was bumped from in front and the paper dropped from his hands.

 

“Aw damn,” he tried to look around on the pavement below the feet all about him. He was distracted by the fact that someone had striplights in their trainers, and someone else had hologram decorations on the side of their boots, and someone else had small hover pads on the soles of their shoes, and someone else walked passed in only a translucent anorak. Before he knew it the paper was gone. He scratched his head, then scratched his beard, and wondered if Reyes would have a go at him if he called up and admitted he’d lost the name of meet-up location. He stopped walking and leaned back against the wall, stepping back out of the constant river of people. In the continual mill of life flowing all about him he found himself sober and reflective.

 

He wondered about the strange sequence of events that had led him to here and now. He wondered if Reyes really would have got him sent to a maximum security prison for grand larceny. He wondered if he would have been able to appeal his case by now, and if they’d have let him out early. No-one would have posted his bail, of course. The Deadlock Gang were a family as long as you were useful to them, if you got caught that was your own problem – no one was going to be parting with hard earned cash on your behalf. Perhaps he could have gone straight – working away in some diner somewhere, frying fries, flipping burgers, cleaning tables… it wouldn’t have been such a bad way for things to work out. There was something attractive about that slower pace of life – stepping out to take a cigarette under the tall watch of red rock cliffs and circling eagles, on an empty highway populated only but the occasionally lean cactus or drifting wheel of tumbleweed.

 

“Jesse!” A metal hand landed on his shoulder and brought him out of his reverie.

 

Genji was before him. His red eyes were excited, his hair all askew, and the suit that had been modified to accommodate his augments looked like it was on its last legs.

 

“Oh, hey, Genji. Glad you found me. I was a little…” McCree looked around him.

 

“I didn’t realise how much I missed this!” Genji said enthusiastically.

 

“Oh…” McCree gave a weak smile, “well, show me you’re world, pal. Here I am, ready to go.”

 

Genji led him into an arcade where the machines were so loud Jesse couldn’t hear his own thoughts. People were crowded round all kinds of games, none of which looked familiar to Jesse. Genji led him through a series of room and stopped in a quieter one in the back where Jesse could at least hear himself talk.

 

“This where you gonna play some high stakes games, like poker or somethin’?”

 

Genji rolled his eyes,

 

“You watch too many old films. And besides it’s better to try your hand at a few things before going all in with big money, otherwise it looks suspicious.” Genji turned to a terminal on his left, “wonder if my old account still works…” He tapped the card Hanzo had given him against the screen and it leapt to life.

 

“Hanzo said to spend everything in one go though…” McCree cautioned.

 

“I’m not spending much,” Genji began typing into the terminal. “Oh they still have my old team on here! Nice.”

 

“Old team?”

 

The room lit up in gradual sequence of floodlights, revealing an arena. Genji waved a hand through the air, interfacing with the holographic overlay diffused through the room. He turned to McCree and had a small red and white holographic ball in his hand.

 

“Ever played any Pokémon?” He clicked open the ball and lifesize Pikachu leapt out. It darted in and out of McCree’s legs, chirruping at him and nuzzling up to his leg.

 

“Oh… er. No. But, I guess it’s kinda cute.” McCree looked in puzzlement at the digital creature, moving his legs gingerly so as to avoid stepping on it. “Can I touch it?”

 

“You can interact with it. Try.”

 

Jesse crouched down, feeling a little foolish,

 

“Er, hey there, lil fella.” He reached out and fuzzed the creature’s head. He felt nothing under his hand, but the creature rubbed against him and rolled over onto its stomach, “so what’s the deal with these little guys? How does the game work?”

 

“You pitch them against each other in this arena,” Genji explained.

 

“You make this cute fella fight other animals?! That don’t sound nice!”

 

“They don’t fight to the death, just until one faints.”

 

“Oh well that’s alright then! Barbaric makin’ this fella fight til he faints! This really what you got up to back in the day, ring fightin’ with lil computer animals?!”

 

Genji couldn’t help laughing,

 

“How can you never have heard of this? It’s been around for decades.”

 

“Well, excuse me, some of us were planning heists in New Mexico insteada forcin’ yellow mice into the thunderdome! And by the way, don’t think I didn’t notice the living conditions that lil guy’s got. You really expectin’ me to believe he could fit in that tiny ball? His face woulda been smooshed to nothin’ in there. I can see he might be mostly fluff but ain’t no way you’re getting that giant mouse back in that tiny ball!”

 

Genji shook his head in bewildered amusement. He spent the next half an hour showing McCree different Pokémon and their holographic moves, filling the arena with tidal waves, electric storms, rings of fire, and soft hypnotic melodies until McCree’s head was spinning.

 

“How come they can do all that in an arcade but our shooting range projector still looks like something out of a 2010s 3D cinema?”

 

Genji laughed,

 

“These arenas have some of the best graphics around. Not sure it’s a top priority back at base.”

 

“Are you kiddin’ me? I can’t believe we’ve had the technology for ages for me to turn my tiny bunk room into the wild west! I could lie back on my bed and watch goats bouncin’ up the cliff faces. Coulda programmed in some criminal types on the ridges to practice firing with my Peacekeeper!”

 

“I thought _you_ used to be the criminal operating in the hills, Jesse. Also, that would put real holes in the ceiling. Not sure you could sell that to the commander.”

 

“Listen here, I was a law-abidin’ citizen back in the day. I just happened to abide my law and be a citizen o’ nowhere in particular.”

 

“Of course,” Genji’s eyes crinkled with amusement, “how did that go down in a court of law?”

 

Jesse grumbled.

 

“Anyway, when are you going to get on losing this money.”

 

“Want to say that any louder? I’m getting to it. Just enjoying being out of a cage. Also, you can’t believe how amazing it feels to stand somewhere like this and not be thinking about how many people you’re disappointing. If you told me five years ago Hanzo was going to try and kill me for being a family disgrace, I would have said – yeah sounds about right, but if you told me I’d be standing here, with his approval and this much money – never in a million years would I have believed you. Come on,” Genji tugged at McCree’s sleeve.

 

Jesse’s face softened when Genji said that, and he found himself wishing life had been easier for his friend. He followed him back into the louder part of the arcade. He scrunched up his eyes against the glaring neon and white screens igniting the dark room. He tried to follow as Genji started up a game. As far as Jesse could see, most video game characters were tall and fabulous looking and owned at least one weapon far too large for them to feasibly lift, let alone use. He was surprised when the next game Genji chose featured a small, average looking man, in dungarees with a moustache in need of a good trim.

 

“What’s this fella going to do?” Jesse shouted over the sound of a pinball machine behind him and two women having a dance off next to them.

 

“What?” Genji shouted back.

 

“The man in dungarees! What’s his superpower?”

 

Genji shook his head, unable to hear Jesse. He instead focussed on playing.

 

Jesse looked on with much puzzlement as the dungareed character went on his peculiar way, eating mushrooms, riding dinosaurs, hopping onto ledges held up by nothing at all and looking mightily precarious to McCree.

 

“He sure ain’t an architect, is he!” Jesse shouted.

 

“Huh?” Genji shouted back, eyes not leaving the game.

 

“I said – he ain’t an architect – on account o’ how he ain’t got a second thought about jumpin’ on some precarious choices o’ infrastructure!”

 

“Architect?” Genji caught one word, “he’s a plumber.”

 

McCree’s face turned to utter confused and bemusement. _Plumber?_ He mouthed. Genji shook his head dismissively, trying to concentrate on his game. He finished a level and turned to McCree.

 

“Can you stop distracting me please!” he said over the noise.

 

“Why! You’re meant to be losing anyway, and I want to know what’s goin’ on!”

 

“I have to win a few levels first, otherwise people will wonder why I raised the stakes so fast.”

 

“Ok, fine. But I got one question.”

 

“What?” Genji said wearily.

 

“Why’s this fella gotta ride a dinosaur? What’s wrong with a horse, or a motorcycle for that matter? Did I ever tell about this sweet ass bike my old boss had?”

 

“McCree, no one cares. No one cares about dinosaurs, and no one cares about your motorcycle stories, now don’t distract me when I’m playing.”

 

Jesse sighed. He watched Genji’s game for a bit more, but the side-scrolling screen made his eyes ache. His eyes wandered around the rest of the arcade. The two women dancing stepped off their arrow lit dance floors laughing together. McCree tilted his hat at them. They rolled their eyes, held hands and sauntered off. Jesse scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

 

“Making a fool of yourself, Jesse?” Genji said, eyes still on his game.

 

Jesse glared at him, wondering if Genji had some kind of secret cyborg vision that let him see a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees.

 

Five minutes later Genji sighed, and stepped away from the game.

 

“Right, that’s us.”

 

“Huh?” Jesse looked at him, “what is?”

 

“It’s done. Money lost.”

 

“Wait, what?” Jesse stared at him, “ _a_ _ll_ of it?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“You lost one-hundred-and… something million just playing with that dinosaur and the plumber?”

 

“Yep,” Genji said again.

 

Jesse couldn’t quite believe it. He couldn’t even comprehend the amount of money being talked about. There were not so hard to remember days when ten dollars was a relief to have in his hand.

 

“It went so fast,” Jesse said, still stunned and even a little frustrated that such a large amount could mean so little to Genji.

 

“Welcome to gambling,” Genji grimaced, “I actually came pretty close to doubling it, if I hadn’t messed up that final boss. Would have been very awkward if I’d put the arcade out of that kind of money. Oh, here’s our ticket.”

 

“ _Is that…? Shimada Genji!_ ” A young woman in a dark suit approached them. Her hair was neat and straight and she wore black framed glasses. “ _I just got an alert over in security that someone just lost big money. I didn’t know you were back in town! Your family said you went off to school in America!”_

 

Genji’s face stopped working for a few full seconds,

 

“ _They... they said that, huh?”_ he said with difficulty, trying to keep his tone light, “ _Well, haha. It’s uh… a semester break. And they don’t make their arcades over there like they do back home.”_ Genji shifted uneasily. McCree noticed his friend’s discomfort, but was unsure how to help him. _“_ _Hey, you don’t think I could get a word with Mr Sasaki do you?”_

 

“ _Genji… you know our rules and how these things work.”_

 

“ _Yeah, I know. But… did you hear my brother took over the clan? I have to answer to him now. And… o_ _ne-hundred-and-forty-five million yen._ _He’s not going to be pleased…”_

 

The woman winced at the sound of the sum.

 

“ _I’ll see what I can do, for old times sake, ok? Come with me to security._ ”

 

She turned and walked away. Genji gave McCree a subtle thumbs up and they followed her through the crowd.

 

***

 

They sat on a low leather sofa with a wall of CCTV screens before them. Half a dozen security staff had their eyes glued to the screens, meticulously looking them over.

 

Jesse crossed his legs, then crossed them the other way.

 

“You really lost all that money just playing with the plumber and-”

 

“Yes, McCree. How many times do you want me to say it?” Genji was getting irritated.

 

“I just can’t believe it. It shouldn’t be allowed. People with that much money shouldn’t be allowed in no arcade, and shouldn’t be allowed to-”

 

“Who’s going to stop them, you?”

 

“Yeah, me! I’d lift that in half a second and do more good with it than-”

 

“Well, why did you agree to come with me, if you feel so morally opposed to-”

 

“I ain’t _morally_ opposed. I’m opposed on account o’ common sense!”

 

Jesse folded his arms and fell into a sulk. Shortly, the young woman from before returned.

 

“ _Who’s your friend?_ ” she asked, as McCree got up to follow them both.

 

“ _Uh… met him… at school in America. It’s his first time in Japan. And he can’t speak Japanese._ ”

 

“How are you enjoying our country?” The woman smiled at McCree.

 

McCree’s thundercloud expression vanished,

 

“Oh, fine, ma’am. It’s mighty different to anythin’ I seen back home. This place is quite somethin’.”

 

She gave him another smile,

 

“Has Genji showed you the local temple near here? It is very famous with beautiful architecture.”

 

“Uh, nope, he hasn’t shown me no temple.”

 

“And the sake, you must try that, it is very different here to in the big cities.”

 

“Big… big cities?” Jesse faltered, “this… this isn’t a big city?”

 

The woman and Genji laughed.

 

“No, of course not!” The woman gave him a slightly pitying look, “Akita is always growing and the largest city north of Sendai now, but you can take a train from Tokyo to Kyoto and you won’t notice when you leave one city and enter another, from Osaka to Tochigi is just city. You probably saw on the train up from Tokyo?”

 

“Oh…” Jesse felt around for words that weren’t incriminating, “ah… I’m not too good on geography, ma’am. But you sure got some big cities here that’s for sure. Maybe tomorrow I can take a look at that temple o’ yours.”

 

“Very good.” She smiled again as she led them into a lift. As the lift rolled higher, the din and dark of the arcade became a distant dream. They stepped out into a polished wooden corridor that looked onto glass walled atriums on all sides. Everything was furnished with tasteful items somewhere between traditional and modern. Bonsai trees lined a centrepiece display complete with a small bubbling waterfall and shallow pond in which koi swam. Jesse hadn’t realised he could feel any more out of his essence. He took his hat off and held it to his chest.

 

“Please make yourselves at home, I’ll have someone bring you drinks.” The woman gestured to the low seating about the atrium, then turned to Genji, “ _Mr Sasaki is in a meeting just now, but he said he always has a moment for you. He will be here shortly._ ”

 

The woman and Genji exchanged a small bow and she left.

 

“Swish,” Jesse said, moving up to the tall black windows that looked down over the city.

 

Genji nodded. He checked the time. _21_ _:_ _34_ _|_ _Download at_ _38.49_ _%._ He stood next to the fountain where the bubble of the water was loud. He blinked on his receiver.

 

“In Sasaki-san’s tower,” he murmured down the line.

 

“That was quick. Even for you.” Hanzo had joined Ana and Reyes in taking up strategic positions should Genji and Jesse need back up.

 

“I have a talent,” Genji said mildly, “squandering Shimada resources is a forte of mine. It’s not safe to leave this channel open, not sure how good their security is and whether they’ll be able to pick it up. I’ll open the line so that you can listen if it looks like things aren’t going to plan.”

 

“Stay safe, Kid.” That was Reyes. “We’ll have eyes on you shortly.”

 

Genji closed the transmission.

 

Moments later a waiter came through,

 

“ _Anything I can get you, Mr Shimada?_ ”

 

Genji’s insecurities about his bodily intake reared unexpectedly to the surface. He took a moment and gathered himself. It was old Genji that had to be here, not the wreck who’d joined Blackwatch.

 

“ _Yeah, how about some tunes. This place is boring as hell. See what you can do about getting us a little music in here.”_

 

The waiter hesitated,

 

“ _As you wish, Mr Shimada. And for your friend?_ ”

 

Genji called across the atrium to Jesse, “want a drink?”

 

“Yeah, why not.” McCree was still giving himself butterflies staring down the long drop from the window, “can I try some o’ that local sake the lady was talkin’ ‘bout?”

 

“ _An Akita sake for my friend,”_ Genji translated.

 

Jesse meandered over after the waiter had gone.

 

“Those real fish or holograms?”

 

Genji gave him a look,

 

“Of course they’re real fish.”

 

Jesse shook his head,

 

“Don’t think I could ever get used to this kinda life. Real makes me reassess what I thought I knew ‘bout you, knowin’ you came from all this.”

 

“It has it’s down sides,” Genji said wistfully.

 

McCree blinked,

 

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinkin’.”

 

“It’s ok,” Genji spoke more quietly.

 

A soft pulsing electronica started up, seemingly oozing out of all the walls. Jesse glanced around him.

 

“That’s more like it,” Genji nodded his head to the beat.

 

“You asked for this?”

 

Genji kept nodding his head in time.

 

“No way anyone back home would believe this even if I filmed it. Can I film it?!”

 

“Nope.” Genji shuffled his shoulders in time and winked his lights to the steady bass.

 

McCree already had his phone out.

 

“Absolutely recordin’ this.”

 

The waiter returned with a small glass bottle and a cup as Genji was dancing and McCree was experimenting with the zoom on his phone.

 

“ _Your sake,_ ” the waiter said, not quite eliminating the tiredness from his voice.

 

“Thanks, pardner.” Jesse gave him a thumbs up, “just pop that down there for me, that’s mighty fine o’ you.”

 

Jesse poured himself a glass one handed while still filming with his phone. He took a sip and pulled a face.

 

“Not bad,” he said. “I mean I’d take a shot o’ whiskey over it any day, but all things considered this ain’t half bad.”

 

“You’ve unlocked possible conversation option one with my brother,” Genji said, focussing on whether he could get his mechanical arm to do a more realistic robot dance.

 

“Yeah, pass. I bet there’s hundreds o’ kinds of sake an’ he knows them all an’ if you say you like the wrong one he’ll give you that look like-” Jesse frowned and put on a mock impression of Hanzo, “ _i_ _nsolent cur!_ ”

 

Genji laughed so much he had to stop dancing and lean on the wall of the ornamental garden.

 

“ _Mr Shimada, you are enjoying my hospitality as usual, I see_.”

 

Jesse straightened at the sound of the voice and quickly put his phone away. Genji turned around more slowly, not bothering to hide his amusement.

 

Mr Sasake was a gentleman of middling height, with iron grey hair and a nondescript dark suit. A single yellow handkerchief square in his breast pocket was the only colour about him.

 

“ _Hi, Mr Sasaki!”_ Genji tilted his head, _“_ _d_ _o you like my new mask? I got some cool new upgrades too._ ” He lit up the lights on his chest.

 

“ _Very novel,_ ” Mr Sasaki said, with a patience born of years of longsuffering.

 

“ _Do you mind if we speak English? This is my friend from America._ ”

 

Mr Sasaki turned to Jesse,

 

“Pleased to meet you,” he offered Jesse his hand.

 

Jesse shook it firmly,

 

“And you too, sir, I’m Clint Wayne. From the way down deep south.”

 

Genji rolled his eyes.

 

“Genji,” Mr Sasaki extracted his hand from Jesse’s and wiped it slightly on his jacket, “I’m glad to see you. There were unpleasant rumours starting to circulate about your whereabouts. But I hear you’re back in the arcades, making me money again.”

 

Genji laughed,

 

“I admit I have some trouble staying away. What’s with your Pokémon Arena?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Your Pokémon Arena. It’s had the same graphics interface for four years now. It’s no wonder it’s not getting any use. You know I can catch a train that’ll get me into Sendai in about two hours? Where they have the latest graphics. You’re losing your touch!”

 

“I see,” Mr Sasaki did not sound like he saw, “well, I’ll have someone take a look at that. But I think you’re here for another reason other than telling me my graphics are outdated, is that right?”

 

Genji’s body language became more sheepish.

 

“Before you say anything else,” Genji spoke in a more serious tone, “can we keep this quiet? From my family, I mean?”

 

Mr Sasaki leaned against his ornamental fountain,

 

“Keeping these things quiet was a lot easier when Shimada Sojiro ruled your family,” Mr Sasaki said this gently.

 

Genji looked away.

 

“Things like this do not easily escape the eye of your brother,” Mr Sasaki continued. He watched as Genji’s gaze continued to linger on the floor, “ _are you sure you wish to be discussing these things in front of your friend?”_

 

Genji nodded, then continued the conversation in English,

 

“Hanzo wouldn’t have to know if you could just…” Genji trailed off. Mr Sasaki raised his eyebrows disapprovingly. “I’m not asking for all of it back,” Genji said hastily, “just enough so that he doesn’t notice it’s gone?”

 

“I’m sorry, Genji,” Mr Sasaki sighed, “you know I can’t make exceptions like this.”

 

“For me you could,” Genji said brightly, “I always come back here. And it was just a mistake, I entered too many zeroes…”

 

Jesse shook his head slightly in disbelief.

 

“I think perhaps you would have little issue if you’d accidentally entered those extra zeroes and won,” Mr Sasaski pointed out.

 

“Mr Sasaki, you can’t just hand me over to the wolves, we’re all part of the same family, can’t you help me out?”

 

“Shimada Hanzo is part of your family,” Mr Sasaki pointed out, “and he is your Kumichō. Speak with him, Genji. It may be that he will have lenience.”

 

“He wouldn’t!” Genji snapped, too fast and too bitter to ever be pretence. He fell silent after that outburst. There was quiet in the atrium. Only the pulsing electronica continued dim and echoey in the tall hall, and the trickle of the water feature splashing into the koi pond. “Maybe you can help me with something else,” Genji said, slipping into a more serious voice. “My brother has tasked me with finding some items that have gone missing from our castle.” Mr Sasaki shifted a little uncomfortably, but Genji ignored that. “Some dishonourable members of the clan decided to make a little extra on the side. I silenced the ones responsible, but they told me Akemi-san was co-ordinating these thefts and passing them on as legitimate sales elsewhere. I know Akemi-san was always close with the Yaushiro, did he come to you? If I could just get back some of the artefacts I’m meant to be retrieving, maybe my brother would be… more inclined to overlook me loosing… how much did I lose?”

 

Mr Sasaki pulled out a personal datapad, he scrolled down it.

 

“Apparently, one-hundred-and-forty-five million, sixty-thousand-and-twenty-three yen. The sixty-thousand-and-twenty-three defaulted because because your card hasn’t been set up with an overdraw. That of course, I can easily wipe-”

 

“Oh, thank fuck.” Genji put his hand to his head.

 

“Wait, you spent more than was even on your _card_?” Jesse put in.

 

“Only a tiny amount,” Genji said with genuine irritability.

 

“As to the artefacts,” Mr Sasaki put a hand to his chin, “I am sure you are just being polite and already know I have some on my person, Genji. I never would have agreed to purchase them if I’d known they were taken without the permission of the Kumichō of the Shimada.”

 

“So… can I have them back?” Genji was hopeful.

 

“Unfortunately not...” Mr Sasaki paused thoughtfully. Genji took the opportunity to blink on his comms and microphone, so that Mr Sasaki’s words could relay live back to the others, “I have promised them to a very influential acquaintance of mine. Indeed, I was finalising the arrangements just before I excused myself to come and speak with you.”

 

“Come on, I just handed you way more cash than those stupid omnic parts are worth. Can’t you just tell this guy the deal is off?”

 

“You lost that money gambling, Genji,” Mr Sasaki reminded a little sharply.

 

“Help me out here, Sasaki-san. I can’t go back home with nothing. And my brother’s not exactly going to be pleased if I tell him the Yaushiro are just handing out our stolen property.”

 

Mr Sasaki stiffened.

 

“The theft was not of my doing. There is no reason that-”

 

“No reason that Hanzo would hold you responsible? Yeah, nice try. And I don’t think all this would go down well with the Oyabun either.”

 

“That… it-”

 

“It would definitely have to go to the top level, there’s no way this wouldn’t be an inter-clan dispute.”

 

Mr Sasaki’s lips pursed.

 

“ _I hardly think this is an appropriate discussion to have before your friend._ ”

 

Genji had been trying to stall the conversation switching back into Japanese so that the commander could hear. It looked like there wasn’t going to be any stalling it in this case though.

 

“ _Can I at least talk to your buyer? Maybe we could come to some kind of arrangement? Are they still here?_ ”

 

“ _Genji. This is a business matter. Go home. You are meddling in matters that do not concern you._ _If I wish to make an arrangement with the Shimada Clan, I am not about to do it with you of all people.”_

 

Genji stopped, dismay rising inside him. He felt himself swallowing down his insecurity.

 

“ _I... I still represent the family,”_ he said, a little uncertainly, “ _I might not be the most conventional member, but I’m still-”_

 

“ _Genji, come on. We both know this isn’t your world and isn’t where any of your cares lie. I’m in the middle of conducting business and there are important people I do not want to get on the wrong side of involved in this transaction. You’re a kid with a gambling habit and love of high life. I like you. You’re fun. But you need to go home. You’re a Shimada in name, not when it comes to doing business.”_

 

Genji stared at the man, at a loss for words. He could feel hurt deep in his chest, and all sorts of thinly stitched together confidences were beginning to unravel. Both the Genji he was and the Genji was was trying to be were crumbling.

 

“ _Do not listen to this buffoon,_ ” a voice said in his ear. Hanzo was listening over the comms, Genji recalled with a jerk. “ _He is trying to cut you down because you have him scared. Stand tall and proud and tell him you are Shimada Genji and wield the full authority of your clan by order of your_ _Kumichō._ _You will be taken to see this buyer, or the Shimada Clan will put an end to their friendship with the Yaushiro._ _Let him see that you carry the ancestral blade of the Shimada with you. These Akita Clans forget that our heritage lies in being masterful killers. Put some fear back into them and remind them who you are._ ”

 

Genji blinked and a warmth flooded through him at the sound of those words. He pulled his shoulders back.

 

“I am here at the order of my Kumichō,” he switched to English so that McCree, Ana and the commander could follow, “and as a representative of the Shimada Clan. If you value the continued friendship of our clans, you will take me to your buyer. I would hate for us to become enemies over this.” Genji’s hand rested deliberately on the hilt of the wakizashi at his side.

 

Both Mr Sasaki and Jesse’s eyes went wide. There was a long, awkward moment, where a koi tail flicked the surface of the pond with a small splash, but otherwise the trickle of water and background electronica remained unbroken.

 

“Very well, Shimada-san,” Mr Sasaki said stiffly. Then more softly, “I hope you know what you are doing.”

 

Mr Sasaki led them out of the atrium and through a handsome corridor still lined with long windows. He took them down a private staircase with white marble bannisters, he stopped before a red cherrywood door. His eyes were angry, and tired. He opened the door.

 

Inside was a wide wooden balcony, circling a large white pillar. With a drop between that looked tens of levels down toward the ground. Seated in a low couch surrounded by half open briefcases was a semi-humanoid Omnic, painted with the purple logo of Null Sector.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple of Blade Runner references in this chapter, as it’s my favourite film and it’s not often I get to write cyberpunk fiction. Thanks again to all my persistent readers, and especially to those of you leaving comments – it’s really encouraging getting to read your thoughts and share your enthusiasm!
> 
> Also, I've changed my position on how Hanzo killed Genji. I'm not going to change anything in this story, but if you're interested in why I now think it was by sword, I wrote a post about it [here](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/post/183965013856/death-by-sword-or-bow).


	19. Omnic Verses Cyborg

Earlier that evening, Reyes was squinting through the apartment window at the tower, home of the Yaushiro Clan. A pair of binoculars and a pair of night-vision goggles stood on the windowsill. He’d set his snipers up, one this side of the building and one on the far side. Ana was about half a mile away with her scope positioned to give her a view from all the angles that would be blind to Hanzo. Hanzo was with Reyes. Mostly because Reyes trusted him less, but also because he’d only brought one set of night-vision goggles from the ORCA, and Ana’s sniper rifle could serve as her eyes in the dark.

 

It had been quiet since Reyes had sent McCree in. He wasn’t expecting a status update, so at this point, no news was good news.

 

“How long until Genji wipes the cash off that card?” he asked the silent sentinel beside him.

 

Hanzo had drawn up a foldaway chair and set it near the window. He had been drinking slowly but steadily throughout the evening, though Reyes said nothing of it.

 

“Not long,” Hanzo said confidently. He returned to watching the Yaushiro tower.

 

Reyes remembered he had specifically brought Ana for situations like this. Hanzo did not make good company. He at least wasn’t given to irritating chatter, but Reyes would have preferred more laid back company maybe with some light conversation to keep his mind calm in the long periods of waiting for his agents to report. He tended to overthink what might be happening on the ground if left to his own thoughts.

 

Reyes sat back heavily in his chair and picked up his night-vision goggles. It was hard to make much out with all the bright city lights. He switched to the binoculars. It was hard to make much out because it was too dark. He sighed in frustration. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the windowsill, then sat back again and put his feet up. He pulled out his datapad and scrolled through his contacts. He paused when he saw a smiling picture of Jack Morrison. Golden hair framed warm blue eyes that looked up at Gabriel from the screen. It was an old picture from the SEP days. He recognised the drab wall of the secret barracks behind the radiant young man. Gabriel hesitated, then hit dial. He turned off the holoimaging and sent the audio straight to his headset.

 

“Gabe? Everything ok?” Jack sounded worried. Gabriel only ever called him during emergencies these days.

 

“Yep. All going fine, just calling to hear your pretty voice.”

 

Hanzo shot Reyes a disapproving look from his seat by the window.

 

“What’s happened?” Jack asked, urgency in his voice now.

 

Jack thought he was being sarcastic, Reyes realised. It had been so long since he’d just called to be sociable that Jack couldn’t conceive of that being an honest answer.

 

“Nothing...” Reyes said, a little uncomfortable now. He could here a printer spitting out pages of paper in the background of Jack’s office and a telephone ringing. “It’s eight hours behind with you, I forgot. You’re probably pretty busy now. I’ll catch up some other time.”

 

“No, wait, Gabe!” Jack said quickly, “I’m not busy, and it’s really good to hear your voice, please don’t go.”

 

Warm feelings curled in Reyes stomach.

 

“Hmph, okay,” Reyes said, trying not to show that he was secretly pleased.

 

“It’s weird not having you or Ana here. Kind of difficult actually. I miss having you around.”

 

“Miss having me stomping through the base to shout at you, you mean?” Reyes laughed.

 

“Yes,” Jack said.

 

When he said nothing more, Reyes felt his face heat up. He swallowed and moved the conversation on quickly,

 

“Anyway, just sitting waiting on Genji and Jesse. Going to be a little while, so...”

 

“So you called me,” Jack finished in a small voice that Gabriel knew would be accompanied by a shy smile. “Ana better not be listening to this call,” Jack said.

 

“Nah, just Hanzo Shimada.”

 

Hanzo gave Reyes another dark look at the sound of his name.

 

“Hanzo’s listening?!”

 

“Only to me. He can’t hear all the dirty things you’re saying.”

 

“Gabe!? I didn’t say anything dirty! Tell him I’m not saying anything like that! My reputation’s on the line!”

 

“Your reputation as a flirt?” Gabriel said lazily, enjoying the place between Jack’s paranoia and the disapproval on Hanzo’s face.

 

“ _You’re_ the flirt! Not me! I can’t even-”

 

“Woah, woah, calm down, Jackie. You’re getting yourself all upset.”

 

Jack gave a heavy sigh. Gabriel frowned, there was more in that sigh than just being teased.

 

“Hey, everything alright with you?”

 

“Yep,” Jack said automatically, “all f-...” There was a pause. “Not...not really,” Jack’s voice was small again.

 

“What’s wrong?” Gabriel’s voice was soft and gentle.

 

“I... I have this stupid press conference I have to do tomorrow. I don’t mind talking in front of soldiers, but I hate doing it in front of journalists. I try really hard to say the right things, and then they go and ask me about something completely different, and if I pause to think, they think I’m hiding something, and if I don’t pause I say the wrong thing, and I just can’t do anything right. I get this ache in my stomach several hours before I have to do the stupid conference, and I can’t sleep the night before...”

 

“Did you sleep last night?”

 

“No. Maybe an hour, not sure. I just... I thought this position would be more like being an officer, and instead I have to talk to all these people who’s job it is to do talking and they’ve all got university degrees and shit. And all I know is the stuff you taught me, and the stuff from SEP and bootcamp. I can put on a field dressing and count how many shooters there are in a room after only glancing out from cover for a second. I can’t do _this_ stuff! I don’t even know who I’m talking to most of the time!”

 

“You are good at it, Jack. You’re much better at it than I ever was. I only got away with the things I said to journalists because there was a war going on and I was leading the charge.” Reyes put his hands behind his head, “heh, they only ever made me do one press conference. Want to hear what happened?”

 

He could hear Jack gathering himself, his breathing a little unsteady.

 

“Yeah, what did you do?”

 

“Some journalist asked me if Overwatch was taking measures to distinguish between violent omnics and those not involved in the insurrection. I said to him, yes – we’re killing the ones that are pointing guns at us. And he said – what if they’re armed but not actually involved in the fighting, are they still considered a threat? So I pulled my gun on him and said – I’m armed, do you consider me a threat right now?”

 

“Oh my God, Gabe, you actually did that? To a civilian?”

 

“Yep. He was majorly pissing me off. Asking about armed omnics ‘not involved in conflict’? These people have no idea what it is to actually be on the front line. To have these tin cans point a gun in your face and to double check they’re involved in the conflict? Who the hell did this guy think he was, saying shit like that?”

 

Jack was laughing,

 

“I can imagine it right now. I bet they didn’t invite you back in a hurry!”

 

“No, they did not. So I could get on and do my actual job uninterrupted,” Gabriel sighed. “Anyway, you’re not like that, you’re actually good at making yourself understood. But you need to get some rest, okay? Go take a nap, and give yourself a breather.”

 

“I can’t. I’ve got so much work to do. All this new stuff came in that I have to look through, and I haven’t finished writing up an official apology to the Scottish Government for that spying breach. They loved the intel we gave them, but they still want an official apology, how unfair is that.”

 

“Jackie, all that will be there later. And it’ll be a whole lot easier if you take a break first.”

 

“I guess I could clear the sofa and take some quick shut eye.”

 

“Jack. Your quarters are five minutes from your office. Go and lie on a proper bed.”

 

“I can’t, I-”

 

“Just do it, okay?” Gabriel said more firmly.

 

“Alright...” Jack mumbled.

 

Gabriel listened to the sound of things moving around as Jack transferred the line to his earpiece, turned off his desktop appliances and filed away paperwork. Gabriel picked up his night-vision goggles again and trained them on the Yaushiro building, twiddling a dial that would bring down interference from light sources. The blur between them and heat signatures was brought into slightly sharper relief. He squinted at the higher levels of the building where there were less bodies moving. He handed the goggles to Hanzo, who he hoped might be able to make more sense of the readings, since he knew the building.

 

“I got into bed.” Jack sounded a little petulant, like a sulky child.

 

“Good,” Gabriel said.

 

“Not sure what the point is though when I still can’t sleep, and my stomach hurts and-”

 

“Jack,” Gabriel said gently, “just try and relax. Let all that go. Don’t think about tomorrow. Or even the next hour. Take a deep breath and just be still.”

 

He heard Jack let out a heavy sigh.

 

“Will you talk to me for a bit more?”

 

“Sure,” Gabriel replied, “just listen to the sound of my voice. _Like you used to when it was just you and me. I don’t know why you found it comforting to listen to someone as harsh as me, but you always were something a little special, eh?_ ” Gabriel hesitated, “you, uh, didn’t keep learning Spanish did you?”

 

“I tried,” Jack said a little sleepily, “but I had so much to do that I had to give it up before I got very far...”

 

“ _Good, then I can keep saying embarrassing shit without you realising._ ”

 

“I like that,” Jack murmured, “I don’t know what it means but it’s relaxing to listen to.”

 

“ _I know, my love. Did you think I’d forget that you found it easier to sleep when I spoke softly to you? That is something I couldn’t forget even if I lived five lifetimes. I wish I could be there with you now. I hate it when you’re worried. Everyone else sees a confident young man, but they don’t know how long it takes you to put that strength together, how much it takes out of you to be what they see when they look at you. And because you’re tireless, and kind, and damn professional, people take advantage of that, and think it doesn’t hurt you when they take that for granted. I know I’ve done that to you. And I’m so sorry. But I’m also too damn proud and don’t have the strength to apologise for all the times I’ve been a dick to you,_ ” Reyes sighed.

 

“Don’t stop,” Jack was distant, a drifting murmur coming from a place of peace.

 

“ _If I was there with you now, I’d run my hand through your hair, just letting you know I’m still there. I’d lean over you and-_ ” The gentle imagery was meandering out of Gabriel’s mind, “ _I’d turn you over and kiss you hard, touch you in places that make you gasp, pin your hands with mine and put my tongue-”_

 

There was a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the line.

 

“I thought you couldn’t understand me?!” Gabriel snapped, momentarily mortified.

 

“I can’t!” Jack protested, “but when you’re saying dirty things your voice always goes all low and growly, like-”

 

“I wasn’t saying anything like that,” Gabriel said hastily, “I was just... reading out of the mission file at a random place. It’s in front of me and the only thing I could think of to say.”

 

“Uh huh,” Jack clearly didn’t believe him, “anything you say, Gabe.”

 

“Stop smiling like an idiot.”

 

“You can’t even see me!”

 

“Your idiotic smiles are practically audible.”

 

“Will you talk a little longer? It’s like you’re here with me.”

 

“Go to sleep, Jack. I should keep the line open for Jesse and Genji. Promise me you’ll at least try and rest.”

 

“I promise,” Jack sighed, “hope things go well for you this evening. Thanks for calling.”

 

Gabriel shut off the line. His heart was beating fast and he could feel excitement coursing through him. When he looked up, Hanzo was watching him. He had a judgemental look in his eye, but then he always did.

 

“I believe I have Genji and McCree’s location,” Hanzo handed back the night vision goggles. “There are two heat signatures close together, and just above that there are two further apart. That latter floor is roughly where the Yaushiro receive guests. The floor beneath often serves as a place for business meetings. If I am correct, then we should see some movement from the floor below, as Mr Sasaki comes to greet Genji and McCree on the level above.”

 

Almost on cue, the heat signatures from the lower level began making their way up towards the signatures above. It was kind of irritating how perfect this Hanzo Shimada could be.

 

“Uh huh,” Reyes said non-committally, “looks like someone’s cracking out the dance moves on our floor. My money’s on your brother, because I’ve seen Jesse try to dance, and it’s nothing like that.”

 

Hanzo snatched back the goggles. He trained them on the spot the commander had been looking at.

 

“Idiot,” Hanzo muttered darkly, “can’t even act with some professionalism when he’s on a mission.”

 

“Looks like he’s doing pretty well on the debonair cover front,” Reyes said mildly, enjoying how embarrassed Hanzo looked.

 

“It’s not a cover,” Hanzo sounded bitter, “it’s just what he’s actually like.”

 

“All the better for us right now. Anyway, if you’d seen him over the last few months, you’d be glad to see him acting a little more carefree.”

 

Hanzo went quiet at that.

 

Not long after, Genji’s channel was switched on and Reyes and Hanzo were silent as they listened to the conversation taking place. At some point the language changed to Japanese, and Reyes only had Genji’s tone of voice to go on. He could always hear when there was distress in Genji’s words, and it irked him when he couldn’t do anything to relieve it. He was glad when Hanzo stepped in to restore Genji’s confidence.

 

“Is he ok?” Reyes whispered once Hanzo had finished speaking, keeping his voice low so that they didn’t miss any chatter over the comms.

 

“He’ll be alright,” Hanzo replied, “he just needed reminding who he was.”

 

They quieted again to listen to what was happening. Reyes frowned as he tried to follow the situation. Just as he was beginning to get irritated with the lack of information, the monitor set up on the far side of the room buzzed to life. That meant Jesse had deemed the situation critical enough to risk setting up a live feed. Reyes hurried to the screens, his relief at getting a visual faded and his eyes widened.

 

Genji was already talking to his host again, so Reyes flicked the channel so that just Jesse was on.

 

“Jesse, that’s a Nulltrooper. Part of a small radical faction gaining traction in the UK and already on the UK terrorist watch list. Treat as armed and extremely dangerous. Give me a ridiculous cowboy phrase if you copy.”

 

“I’m your huckleberry,” Jesse said. His voice was loud in the echoey wooden chamber. Genji and Mr Sasaki paused mid-conversation to look at him.

 

“ _He’s eccentric, don’t mind him,_ ” Genji covered, and heard his brother scoff lightly over the comms.

 

Mr Sasaki nodded and brought them over to where the omnic was seated. It did not seem dismayed at having been left alone. All its responses, in fact, seemed mechanical and forced. Just watching it made Genji feel broken, like he’d given himself over to belonging to a faceless, emotionless, freedomless people.

 

“This is Unit N-2940,” Mr Sasaki introduced in English. “It has made a settlement with me for quite some sum.” Mr Sasaki bowed to the omnic, “these are representatives of the Shimada, they have some interests at stake in our arrangement.” Mr Sasaki seated himself at a small round glass table, next to the omnic, and invited Genji and Jesse to join him. The table was occupied by a large black plastic box. Mr Sasaki pulled it towards him, and twisted numbers on an old fashioned safe lock until the box clicked open. Snug in black foam padding was a silver rotary Bastion canon, fully intact. A Single striplight on the omnic’s blocky head lit red. In the corner of his eye, Genji saw McCree’s hand stray to the revolver on his hip.

 

“Greetings, Unit N-2940,” Genji said aimiably, “there’s actually been a bit of a mix up with this item. You see, it belongs to my family and we’re unwilling to part with it. It was put on the market by accident. Sorry for the confusion.”

 

“ _There is no confusion. We will be taking the turret with us,_ ” the omnic replied instantly.

 

“Oh,” Mr Sasaki said sympathetically and turned to Genji to explain, “Unit N-2940 cannot speak. It’s part of a non-verbal class. I’ve got an app on tablet that it can use to send messages to me.”

 

“Huh?” Genji was disorientated, not quite following what was going on.

 

“It can’t speak, but it can pass on its orders. A bit like a telephone. It relays my words to its superior then a message is sent to my datapad,” Mr Sasaki pulled out said datapad and tapped it. “The messages come directly to here, so that specifics can be agreed upon. A message will probably come through in a moment. Usually it beeps happily like just now – I think that’s to say it’s heard me and passing on the message. Or I suppose it might be some kind of comfort gesture, like an animal purring. You’ll get used to it.” Mr Sasaki stared at his datapad expectantly. When nothing appeared on it, he looked up at the omnic, puzzled, “perhaps it’s malfunctioning,” he muttered.

 

Genji turned to McCree in confusion. McCree pulled a blank, not quite sure what he was meant to be sharing with that look.

 

“ _We are willing to negotiate with the Shimada._ ” Unit N-2940 said, “t _ell us what you wish in exchange for the turret and we will give you a sum in compensation_.”

 

Genji glanced again at McCree and Mr Sasaki. Mr Sasaki was bent over his datapad, tapping its side to get a response. Jesse was looking elsewhere, for all the world as if they weren’t being spoken too. Genji thought this was rather rude behaviour on the part of both of them.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said, turning to Unit N-2940, “but it’s not a case of compensation, the item isn’t for sale. It is dear to my family, and we will not be parted with it.”

 

The Nulltrooper’s slit light flickered red. Genji heard a slight crackle in his head followed by the sound of the commander’s voice.

 

“Can you understand that thing, Genji? Whatever you do, be careful, it’s dangerous.”

 

“ _The item is of great importance to us too,_ ” Unit N-2940 replied in a grating monotone.

 

“Who is ‘us’?” Genji asked.

 

A gradual dawning of realisation was happening on McCree’s face. To his ears, the omnic was letting out sporadic bursts of chirruping beeps. Only from Genji’s measured response, could he gather that there was a language being spoken. Mr Sasaki was still engaged in tapping his datapad.

 

“I’ll call someone from security to come look at this,” he muttered with some embarrassment.

 

“No need, sir,” Jesse put in, “looks like Genji’s got this one covered.”

 

Mr Sasaki looked curiously at Genji. Genji suddenly felt all eyes on him, and a prickling dread inching through him. No one else could understand the ungainly machine in front of him. Just him, the one who was more omnic than man. He swallowed as insecurities swarmed unbidden into his chest.

 

“‘ _Us’ is those of us interested in acquiring these items,”_ Unit N-2940 said, “ _that is all you need know._ ”

 

“I’ve not seen anyone who looks like you before,” Genji tried to keep his tone enthusiastic rather than interrogatory, even though he wasn’t sure if the omnic read human emotion in that way. “Are there many like you around here?”

 

“ _We have not seen anyone who looks like you before. Are there many of you around here?_ ” the omnic returned evenly.

 

Genji blushed.

 

“Keep it talking.” That was Reyes in his ear. “See if you can find out if it’s part of a larger cell. And where they’re operating out of.”

 

“What could you want with an old Bastion turret?” Genji asked, “do you know they’re illegal?”

 

“ _If they were not illegal, we would not have to come to the Yakuza for them, and pay extortionate prices. What we would like to know, is what humans could possibly want with it. Even with your upgrades to make you more like us, you could not possibly mount such a weapon as this to yourself, though your effort is commendable.”_

 

Genji stared at the machine.

 

“What’s it saying to you?” Mr Sasaki asked, “how do you understand all those beeps and noises its making. Is that even a language?”

 

“So you do intend to make use of this weapon then?” Genji pushed, trying to ignore all the more sore points the omnic had raised.

 

“ _Weapons are for war. And to us they are more besides. They are a part of us. You look in this box and see a gun. We see a part of our fellow omnic, maimed and mutilated, kept in a trophy room for decades. We politely ask you to part with this item, but truly it was never yours to begin with. We grovel on our tracks now, asking for humans to return our mutilated family to us. But the time will come when it is you who grovel before us. Your pathetic fleshly forms will burst beneath the gunfire of your superior masters and you will be eradicated from the face of the earth like the vermin you are. Even creatures like you, who think they can save themselves by donning our garb and learning our tongue. In the end even you will burn. It is your legacy and birthright. It is the vengeance you have earned. Humanity has oppressed omnic-kind for half a century. Soon you too will know oppression, then we will grant you the mercy of non-existence and wipe you from the earth.”_

 

Mr Sasaki frowned,

 

“Is it broken?”

 

“I thought that funny beeping would never stop,” McCree cracked a grin, “you catch all that Genji?”

 

Genji stared between them, then at the omnic, still sitting completely still before them. He drew in a slow breath through his ventilator, trying not to let its shakiness show.

 

“Something isn’t right.” He heard Hanzo speaking softly through his audio.

 

Genji couldn’t risk replying. His eyes flicked between the omnic and the turret, then back again. His heart was beating fast. He had not had enough training to deal with situations like this.

 

Genji lurched for the box and slammed the lid down. Unit N-2940 was ready. It swung a mechanical arm with full power, smashing into Genji and flinging him back into his seat. It grabbed the box and ran, legs whirring into action. McCree leapt to his feet, a second too late. Mr Sasaki was left staring in confusion. Unit N-2940 got the central wooden pillar between itself and them. Genji heard the click of machinery and the whir of something dismantling.

 

“ _Shit_ ,” Genji picked himself back up. “It’s definitely not friendly!” he said aloud for the comms. He pointed to the left of the pillar and nodded to McCree, “take that side! Hurry, we don’t want it mounting that turret.” Genji sped off to the right, leaving Mr Sasaki still sitting at the small glass table and holding his blank datapad.

 

Genji and McCree sped to the far side of the pillar. They met up and stared at each other. There was no omnic in sight. They ran to the balcony edge. There was a long drop to the floor below. They looked up, there was a closer balcony above them. The central pillar obscured any good view they might have of the direction the fugitive might have taken.

 

“Lost it!” Genji exclaimed. He touched his finger to his visor, “have you got a visual, Captain?”

 

“Negative,” Ana replied over the comms.

 

“Hanzo, give me a sonic arrow.”

 

“A what now?” Jesse piped in.

 

Genji shushed him with a hand.

 

Hanzo strung _Storm Bow_ quickly. He pulled the window across and a strong gust of wind filled the empty apartment. It was a long shot to the apartment. He notched an arrow and clicked on a sonic beacon. The arrowtip throbbed a faint blue. He drew back his bowstring, pulling the weapon as taught as he could. He felt his muscles burning and old dragons stirring with excitement. He subdued that latter feeling. He narrowed his eyes, lining up his shot, then he aimed high, taking into account the arc the arrow needed and the windspeed. He let his arrow fly. The string sung as it twanged free. The arrow sailed through the night, visible only as a small blue shooting star pulsating in the black. It hit the Yaushiro building and immediately a spherical ripple lit up the building. Figures in the sphere’s diameter glowed red under the beacons influence. Hanzo lowered his bow satisfied.

 

Genji glanced about him, the throbbing beacon winking pulses of light. On the floor below, the shape of the omnic was visible as a red silhouette through the pillar. Genji’s eyes glinted. Before McCree could protest, Genji leapt off the balcony, slid down the vertical pillar and sprung off onto the floor below. This floor was similar to the one above – a wooden platform circling the central pillar. Genji hit the floor, then rolled quickly into cover with the pillar between him and the omnic. In the brief seconds when he’d glimpsed Unit N-2940, that Bastion turret had looked a lot more attached than it had in the minutes before.

 

Genji’s heart raced. The level was dim, lit only by the light filtering in from above. He could hear McCree’s nervous calling after him in the echoey reaches. Just here and now, Genji was alone. Hanzo’s arrow still gave him perfect location for the omnic. The red silhouette showed him that the turret was now fully attached to the omnic. It was waiting, just out of sight, for him to drop out of cover. A slow calm fed through Genji’s limbs. He remembered the commander’s words: he was fast. He also remembered Jesse’s words at the shooting range some months ago: _You might be fast, Genji, but you ain't faster than a bullet._ An exhilaration course d through him – perhaps he _could_ be faster than a bullet. What had he to lose even if he wasn’t?

 

Almost on cue, a voice murmured in his ear,

 

“ _Be careful._ ” It was Hanzo, talking Japanese, no doubt so that Reyes couldn’t hear him being concerned over Genji’s wellbeing.

 

“ _When have I ever been careful? Not about to change now,_ ” he whispered back. Genji drew his wakizashi and rolled out of cover.

 

Immediately there was a thundering in his eyes like a shower of stars and a roar of machinery. He saw the blur of the turret whirring and flashing light as bullets tore out of the canon. His blade was in his hands, moving fast, faster, matching the speed of the turret before him. The re-enforced steel sheered through the air, twirling in a circular motion, touching the bullet spray, curving their path in a perfect complete reverse. The whirl of air and light before him was so fast that it took a good few seconds for the omnic to realise that the cyborg was deflect bullets out of the very air, back at it. The omnic armour shredded under the impact of its returned bullets, the damage reversed in such a sudden brief burst that the fight was over almost before it had started. There was a belated pause, where the omnic managed to pause its turret fire long enough to contemplate what was happening. Genji took this moment to dart forward. Before he cleared the remaining space between them, gunfire ripped out again, a gattling rattle off rapid bullets. Genji took a full round to his chest before he upped the power to his armour and made a final quick strike through the omnic. His wakizashi sheered the wiring between the omnic’s head and its body. The head dropped to the floor. Its single red slit eye dimmed. The omnic was peppered with bullet holes that had sparked and charred the metal on their way through. Genji had a moment to admire his work before he collapsed to his knees.

 

Genji frowned and looked down at his armour. There were punctures in his chest, and a bullet had even sheered straight through his organic shoulder. He looked at the wound, watching blood seep down his chest and run in rivulets down the rim of his armour. He blinked and looked at the fractions of shrapnel and dents next to the weeping open, holes of blood in his flesh. The excitement of the moment was slowly wearing off, and the full scope of the damage he had taken was just beginning to settle in his mind. He could feel his limbs growing weak, and his mind dizzying. Someone was calling him, but he wasn’t sure if it was the commander, or Jesse, or his brother. At one point he though maybe it was his mother. He told his mother, he was sorry for not having looked after his body better, and hoped she would forgive him. Then he frowned again and realised his mother wasn’t there after all. He heard a tinny shattering of glass as a window on his floor broke, letting in the rustling wind and distant honking of car horns.

 

His next thought was lucid and clear. He blinked and looked down, one of Ana’s darts was in his shoulder.

 

“You shot me,” Genji said to the radio. There was a sharp intake of breath from Hanzo, who at any given moment interpreted all scenarios in the most guilty way possible.

 

“Of course I did,” Ana replied over the comms, “although I almost couldn’t make the shot from this angle. That’s adrenaline, an opiate, and anti-coagulant by the way. You still have to see a real doctor. And be glad Angela didn’t just see you taken on a field turret head on with just a sword.”

 

A new kind of feeling was swimming to the surface as the painkillers kicked in,

 

“Hey, McCree...” Genji said, his words slurring a little.

 

“Yeah?” McCcree sounded urgent, “You ok? You need a hand? I’ve still got Mr Sasaki back up here.”

 

“I was faster than a bullet. At least for a bit.”

 

There was swearing, and it took Genji a moment to register it was Hanzo’s and not McCree’s.

 

“ _S’ok, big brother_ ,” Genji wasn’t sure what language he was saying that in, “ _I’m still in one piece, not like last time. Thanks for the sonic, by the way. Lit everything up like new year lanterns._ ”

 

“Is he alright? What did he say?” Jesse sounded distant and concerned.

 

“He’s high,” Hanzo also sounded distant, but his concern was quickly being replaced by customary frustration.

 

“It’ll wear off soon,” Ana was tired over the comms.

 

“Commander, I got the turret.” Genji sat on the floor looking at the destroyed omnic. He tugged at the turret. The limb of the dead omnic it was attached to wiggled as he tugged. “Oh,” Genji looked at the problem. He pulled out his sword and dashed it through the mechanics, severing the lines keeping the turret mounted. There was a sound of clashing metal and sparks.

 

“Genji!” Hanzo cried.

 

“Okay, _now_ I’ve got the turret.”

 

There was a pause as Hanzo’s heartrate returned to normal. The commander broke the quiet.

 

“Good job, Kid. Don’t suppose you left any of that omnic intact so that we can get a read on who it’s in contact with?”

 

Genji looked at the smoking steel skull of the omnic lying on the ground.

 

“Kind of fried it, Commander,” he admitted.

 

“Alright, not a problem. But I want all those omnic parts bagged and brought back here, no telling what stuff might be on it, and we’re on clean up, so...”

 

“Right you are, Boss,” McCree was dispirited, “but dibs Genji has to carry it, seeing as he killed it and has the augments to lift a car.”

 

“Captain, can I have another shot, I think I’m starting to feel again.”

 

“Get a move on, Genji. And you Jesse. It’s late,” Ana unscrewed the legs of her sniper tripod and retracted the scope. She set the rifle in its case. She picked up the small holographic photo of her daughter she’d been talking to during the long wait that evening. She clicked it off and stowed it in her pocket. She rinsed out a small china cup and a teapot and set them in the inset foam next to her rifle. She clicked the lid to the case shut and pocketed the mini battery kettle she’d set up. She slung her case over her shoulder, and hummed an old folk tune from home as she stepped down the stairwell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not going to lie, I love hunting out Bastions on deathmatch so that I can deflect into their face. I listen to their squeaky repair noises so I can find them and murder them with Genji. The next chapter is pretty full on with emotional baggage so I apologise in advance. Thanks for all your comments and welcome to new readers! I always like hearing from you!
> 
>  
> 
> [Feel free to send me a message on tumblr if you're enjoying the story!](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/)


	20. Matters of the Heart

Genji’s eyes were bright as he and McCree walked. His head turned this way and that, drinking in the sights of the city by night.

 

McCree hoisted more of the omnic onto his shoulder. They were carrying it between them. Genji’s augments made him stronger, but McCree was worried about exacerbating the bullet hole in Genji’s shoulder.

 

“I can take this if it’s gettin’ a bit much,” McCree said.

 

Genji didn’t answer.

 

McCree frowned. His friend’s pace was slowing.

 

It was a busy street, the last big one they had to cross before they got back to the safe house. Genji came to a full stop, looking back up the road. It was late. The lights were bright and the night was dark. A faint curtain of drizzle was beginning to fall. Jesse squinted up the street to see what Genji was looking at. A group of young women were exiting a cinema, chatting loudly to one another and wrapping scarves around their necks to keep out the chill night air. Genji had a strange expression on what could be seen of his face. He was watching the young women intently.

 

“Old flame or somethin’?” McCree guessed.

 

Genji nodded silently. A young woman with a carefree smile touched a boot into the surface of a puddle. She held out her hand to feel for rain, and with a pop, a cardamom red umbrella burst open like a flower. She held it up, linked arms with her friends and began to walk on up the street.

 

“Want to... uh, catch up with them? I reckon I could get this back to the boss by myself.”

 

“No,” Genji said quickly. He picked up the omnic remains, taking it easily off Jesse and carrying it over his cybernetic shoulder.

 

Jesse chewed his lip but said nothing, it was getting easier for him to see Genji when wished to be left alone. He still couldn’t get over how quickly the cyborg’s moods could flit from joy to darkness.

 

Ana beat them back to the safe house even though she’d picked up food on the way. She and Hanzo were talking quietly as they forced an old gas hob to spit out flames and set a tin kettle on top.

 

“Lord, you wouldn’t believe how much that thing weighs!” Jesse said as they stamped puddles off their feet and Genji dumped the omnic corpse on the floor, tossing the Bastion turret down next to it.

 

Genji proceeded to tear off the tattered remains of his suit. He grabbed a black hoodie on the back of a fold away chair.

 

“That’s mine,” Reyes said, without looking up from his datapad.

 

Genji pulled the hoodie on anyway. It was even larger than normal and emblazoned with white skulls on the front.

 

“Don’t you guys ever just wear normal clothes?” Jesse folded his arms.

 

“Normal like mock regalia from early nineteenth century America?” Hanzo sniffed, looking up from the kettle.

 

“Think I preferred you when you never talked to me,” McCree muttered Hanzo’s way.

 

“He has a point,” Ana smiled. Her smile fell when she caught sight of Genji, huddled in a corner of the room. “Want me to take a look at that bullet wound, Genji?”

 

Genji shook his head fiercely. He drew his legs up to his chin and stared forward. Reyes looked up, glanced at Genji, then gave McCree a quizzical look. Jesse shrugged. He picked up the omnic head and tossed it from hand to hand. He sat down heavily next to Genji.

 

“So, it really true you moved faster than a bullet?”

 

Genji’s eyes were blank. The constant dull red light behind them unnerved Jesse, but he didn’t let that show.

 

“Guess you must’a made that up then,” he baited. Still nothing. He sighed, looking sidelong at his friend. “You sure gotta lotta mood changes on you, pardner. I thought we were havin’ a ball tonight. Can hardly believe you were dancin’ jus’ earlier.”

 

Genji continued looking forward.

 

“Kumichō,” he said softly.

 

“That her name? Name of the lady back there?”

 

“Kumichō,” Genji repeated.

 

Jesse sighed again and stood. He bowled the omnic head back to it’s remains and meandered up to Ana and Hanzo. He sniffed the air.

 

“What’s cookin’?”

 

“Tea.” Hanzo even managed to make that sound accusatory.

 

“You guys and your tea,” Jesse huffed, “anythin’ Genji can have? Think he’s pinin’ for some lost lady in his life. Keeps sayin’ _Kumicho_ over ‘n’ over.”

 

Hanzo’s eyes snapped up. He thrust a wooden jar of loose tea leaves he’d been holding into McCree’s chest, and strode over to his brother. He crouched near to Genji. McCree was left stand holding the tea, looking a little perplexed. He sniffed at the loose leaves, then snorted when some went up his nose.

 

“ _You asked for me_?” Hanzo spoke softly in Japanese. Genji had never used Hanzo’s formal title before. Hanzo doubted it was a herald of good news that he had now.

 

Genji’s eyes swivelled to Hanzo. The movement looked like it took some effort, as if Genji was drawing himself back from a distant place. Genji nodded slowly in response.

 

“ _I wanted to-..._ ” Genji thought for a moment. He had a reflective look. Hanzo felt a tightness grip him. His brother looked small, broken, afraid. It pained him to sit this close to this person he’d destroyed. “ _I realised that I never said…_ _t_ _hat_ _I’m sorry._ _None of this would have happened if I’d listened_ _to you_ _,_ ” Genji said at last. “ _I’m sorry for letting down my family, sorry for disobeying you, sorry that I pushed you to do what you did. And-_ ”

 

“ _Stop._ ” Hanzo’s voice was hoarse and his eyes were sharp, “ _I don’t_ _know what’s brought this on, but I don’t_ _want to ever hear you say such a thing again. I did a hideous, monstrous thing, and I don’t want you now or ever to apologise to me. I am not worthy of such an apology,_ _n_ _or even to be called your brother. I cannot live with myself or the things I have done, and the only reason I am here still among the living is because I have no honour to my name. All I have is my guilt and my_ _drinking_ _. I owe you the world. You owe me nothing. Nothing except your hatred. In the detention room in Gibraltar you asked if I wanted you to hate me. Of course I did._ ” Hanzo was speaking in a fast fierce undertone, “ _Of course I_ _ **do**_ _. Stop treating me like a brother, Genji. And stop trying make peace between us. I am deserving of neither._ ”

 

Genji went quiet. Hanzo studied him. His brother’s eyes were still glazed, and not the good quiet.

 

“ _I just..._ ” There was something disturbing and dreamlike in Genji’s voice, “ _I just... I know I was a lot of trouble. I know I got things wrong a lot, and needed putting in line. But-..._ _I wanted to ask you…_ _Did it have to be like that? So… extreme?_ _Couldn’t you have just cut off... just my arm? Or something? I’m sure I would have changed – I would have listened to you_ _if you just_ _cut off a_ _small amount of me_ _._ ”

 

Hanzo stared at the hooded creature before him, with its mechanically aided voice, and its red eyes staring out from the dark.

 

“ _Or even if you cut off a finger,_ ” Genji suggested, “ _I saw that work on someone once – you cut off one finger every hour until they listen. Couldn’t you just have done that?_ ”

 

“ _Tortured you, you mean?_ ” Hanzo had to keep his voice completely flat to stop it from breaking.

 

“ _Just a little,_ ” Genji said thoughtfully, “ _s_ _omething like an arm or some fingers wouldn’t be that much. Then-_ ”

 

Genj stopped when Hanzo stood upright. The pain on Hanzo’s face was like nothing Genji had seen before.

 

Hanzo’s line of work had caused him to do many unsavoury things, but never had he heard someone talk so freely about which part of them they wouldn’t mind loosing. A chill, horrifying reality dawned on him, bringing what he had done to his brother into a new jarring light. Hanzo had spent months carrying the weight of his brother’s death upon himself, but there was a fresh level of pain to the knowledge that he had left his brother with his life, forced to bear out an existence with just a fraction of his body remaining to him. He could hardly believe this was the same boy he had grown up with, calling him over now by his formal title to ask why he couldn’t have been maimed just a little bit. He shook his head and swallowed. Dark crowding fingers of self-loathing were crawling up his throat. Hanzo realised he was standing, staring in the middle of the room. He blinked quickly.

 

“I need some air,” Hanzo said gruffly. Ana was looking up at him from a freshly brewed kettle. “Excuse me,” Hanzo grabbed his sake bottle and left the apartment swiftly.

 

There was silence after that. Warm earthy twists of steam rose from the kettle and misted up the windows.

 

Ana gave Reyes a look, tilting her head at Genji. Reyes blew out a puff of air. He tossed his datapad down onto his chair.

 

“Guess it’s my turn then,” he dropped himself down next to Genji, pulling a face as he rolled his shoulders back. “Getting too old for this shit. You’re not keeping that sweater by the way. It’s mine.”

 

Genji pulled the hoodie sleeves down further over his fingertips and nestled further into its oversized darkness.

 

“Shook your brother up pretty bad there,” Reyes frowned as he looked in the direction Hanzo had left. “Want to tell me what this is about?”

 

Genji frowned. He turned the question over in his head.

 

“I saw someone I knew on the way home,” Genji said quietly, “a girl I used to know, used to love. Briefly. A brief thing. It was always brief things for me.” Genji looked at his fingers. They were interlocking and twisting together. “Today was the first time I thought about how I cannot make love ever again. I always knew that. In the back of my head. But I hadn’t thought about it properly until just now. When I saw her.”

 

Reyes was silent. His thoughts jumped to dark nights when responsibilities had weighed heavy on him, and Jack’s easing touch and voice full of hope had ushered him into quieter, easier rests. The proximity of another human being who he could bare his heart to, who could hold his worries in his palm and kiss them until they were bearable and the world’s more important things overshadowed all those niggling insignificances.

 

“It’s a tough one,” Reyes said carefully, “I don’t deny it’s a tough one, Kid. I got no words to make that any easier for you, except to say – that don’t mean you can’t find someone who’ll help you feel whole.”

 

“Like the Strike Commander for you?”

 

Reyes gave him a sharp look. The sharp look softened after a moment.

 

“Yeah,” Reyes said, “like the Strike Commander for me.”

 

“Who will love someone that looks like me?” Genji’s eyes dropped.

 

“Hey, listen here,” Reyes said firmly, “if someone can find it to love a grouchy, angry, bitter old man like me, then you better believe there’s people out there who want a charming ninja who can pull off dance moves, which by the way your brother and I could see on infra-red.”

 

A small huff of a laugh escaped Genji,

 

“He saw that?”

 

“Uh huh. Got real embarrassed about it too.”

 

Genji smiled, but it was still a sad smile.

 

“Sometimes I don’t think he really understands what he’s taken from me,” he said quietly.

 

“I don’t think any of us really know that except you. But your brother hurts. He hurts a lot. And I’m always going to hate the bastard, but if a man hurts that much, it can’t be all bad in there. You don’t owe folks like him a thing, but I’ll say one thing: that Hanzo Shimada reminds me of myself, and folks like me and him, when we dig ourselves into the dark that deep, we need a lot of help getting back out. We ain’t good on our own. We don’t find redemption on our own.”

 

Genji looked at the floor. His expression was hidden in the borrowed hoodie. There was a change in his movements – a stiffness.

 

“I don’t want to help him,” he said coldly, “he has left me with nothing.”

 

Reyes’ voice was sharp,

 

“And you should never feel that you ought to. He’s done a fucking unforgivable thing. _I’d_ never forgive him.” His voice softened a fraction though, “but remember he hurts with you. When someone gets all stuffed up with pride and hurt, it’s hard to say the things you mean, hard to be the person you know you ought to be. Hard not to just to hate everything, especially yourself, and-”

 

“He might sleep with a guilty conscience, Commander. But I’m the one without a body who can’t even kiss anyone, let alone fuck anyone.”

 

Reyes blinked, then nodded. He’d been talking of someone else just then, he realised. Someone who’d been unnecessarily hard on his lover when he’d run in with bubbling excitement to tell him he’d been offered the command of Overwatch. Gabriel chewed on his thoughts for a bit, and shook his head.

 

“I got nothing to say, Kid. You’re right. And it ain’t fair. It ain’t fair one wink.”

 

“I know I wasn’t a good person, but I wasn’t really a bad one. They could have just scared me a little – they didn’t need to go and… go and…” Genji swallowed. He drew in a shaky breath and his voice got smaller, “I wish you could have found me sooner. I wish you could have found me the way you found Jesse, and taken me away from them sooner.” His breathing became irregular and his shoulders shuddered. He bent his head over into his knees to hide his tears.

 

“Shit,” Reyes said, “shit. Come here.” He put his arm awkwardly around Genji. Neither of them were particularly big on personal contact, so Reyes wasn’t entirely sure this was an appropriate response. The cyborg turned his face and buried it in Reyes’ chest. Reyes relaxed a little and drew Genji closer to him, resting a hand on his head. “I’m sorry, Kid. Sorry for all the pain you had in such a short life. Sorry that it’s not easy, and that it’s never gonna be easy. The world is a shitty place full of shitty people. Just most folks don’t have to see all that before they’re twenty-five.”

 

Jesse hovered nearby with a box of hot food for Reyes, looking agitated and concerned for Genji.

 

Reyes waved him and the food away.

 

Ana and Jesse sat on the foldaway chairs eating together in silence.

 

***

 

Jesse wasn’t very good at tact. He was good at honesty, and saying things that came from the soul.

 

“When it – when you get that far away look and get all… angry – is it a bit like lookin’ at your arm and thinkin’ it ain’t yours?”

 

He and Genji were sitting on the foldaway chairs by an open starlit window in the apartment. It had been a slow day, and retrieving the turret had been their first big break, so the night was rolling on into early morning without pause for rest. Reyes and Captain Amari were trawling through databases on the computer set up, looking for hits on the omnic serial codes, or prints on the recovered Bastion turret.

 

Genji said nothing. He merely looked out at the city below, with its constant bright lights and low noise. The night had taken on a greyer quality that comes with the hours before dawn. Eager birds had started singing to one another through the concrete jungle.

 

“I mean,” Jesse tried again, “when I lost my arm, and I had to get this old thing,” he drew back his sleeve to reveal his prosthetic. It was an older build than anything Genji was fixed with. “Sometimes, even though everythin’ was fixed on ok, I couldn’t move it or anythin’ on account o’ how it didn’t feel like me. Is it a bit like that?”

 

Genji turned red eyes to him. He could feel cold bitter things stirring inside. McCree was only trying to help him and understand him, he didn’t deserve his scorn.

 

“Yes, it’s just like that,” Genji said sarcastically, “only imagine your arm is the only real bit of you and everything else is fake.”

 

Jesse’s eyes widened,

 

“My arm… I… wow-” Jesse scratched the back of his head, “I can’t really imagine that. It’s just, they were able to do this therapy thing for me, where they put a mirror up so when you look down you see your real arm reflected in the place of the one you lost. It’s a cool experiment – not like Moira’s at all – anyway they hide your prosthetic arm, and do lil things like pricking the reflection while pricking your prosthetic arm and Genji, I swear, it’s like you start feeling its a part of you again! And I know it’s different for you and there’s no comparison between us-”

 

“You’re right. There isn’t.”

 

Jesse swallowed but continued,

 

“But maybe it might help you, like how it helped me. All these people are so clever. They can do stuff like rebuild our bodies and even help us forget we even lost anythin’.”

 

“Right,” Genji spat, “and where would they set up the mirror for me exactly? Maybe they can set it up so I can stare even longer at my half face, half chest, and one arm. Maybe they can just paint real legs on the mirror for me to look at. Maybe some psychiatrist can come in and tell me I’m upset because I’ve clinically died twice, lost most of my body and was betrayed by my own brother. Thanks, Doctor, everything feels so much better now that you’ve stated the obvious. Or maybe they’ll compare me to all the other cases total cyberisation, except Doctor Ziegler said I was one of a kind. So maybe no one knows what the _fuck_ is going on with me, and you should just-”

 

“Genji,” the commander said sharply. He didn’t look up from where he and Ana were working.

 

Genji drew in a long breath. He looked back out the window.

 

“Sorry,” he said abortively, “I know you were just trying to help.”

 

“No, no.” Jesse had been twisting his hat between his hands. He laughed nervously, “it was a silly similarity to suggest. And I don’t know anything about… about anything really.” He gave another anxious laugh. There was a stiff silence. Jesse bit his lip and stared at his knees and the creases he’d kneaded into his Stetson, “I just hate seeing you so hurt ‘n’ lost and-”

 

“Then don’t look,” Genji snapped.

 

Jesse’s eyes widened a little, then he looked down.

 

Genji put his hand over his face. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t how Genji Shimada handled life, handled problems. He was stronger than this. Things could tear him down, but he kept getting back up. A whole Yakuza clan couldn’t turn him respectable. There was no way losing a fight to Hanzo was going to reduce him to nothing. Even if he’d lost very badly, lost a lot, lost… so much. He stretched out a hand and put it on McCree’s shoulder, making the other man jump.

 

“This isn’t going to hold me down. I might be a wreck now. But watch me. I will rise from this. And I’ll do it to spite Hanzo. Couldn’t even keep me down after trying to kill me.”

 

Genji stood and pulled off the commander’s hoodie he’d stolen. He drew back his shoulders and stood taller. McCree wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Genji stand proudly, at least not whilst wearing the clothes he didn’t need.

 

“Where… where you going?” Jesse asked.

 

“To fetch my brother. I know where he’ll be. And he’s not yet done with this mission. He’ll be able to help us find out more on this omnic threat and where the rest of our artefacts are. Once he’s sobered up at any rate.”

 

Genji left the apartment.

 

“Nicely done, Jesse.” Reyes leaned back in his chair. Ana raised a glass to him and drank.

 

“Huh?” Jesse was confused.

 

“Ana and I were pretty sure you could snap him out of it.”

 

“Even got him looking for Hanzo. Good job,” Ana added, “because this is a total waste of time.” She kicked the desk and the holoscreens flickered above it. “Complete dead end. No way we’re getting a scrap more info from that omnic shell.”

 

“What… really? You guys just been sitting there twiddlin’ your thumbs listenin’ to Genji layin’ into me?”

 

“Yup.” Reyes brought a bottle of Jack Daniels out of his jacket and topped up Ana’s glass and his own small shot glass on the desk.

 

Jesse jumped to his feet.

 

“Give me that.” He swiped the whiskey out of the commander’s hand and took a swig from the bottle before slamming it down on the table, “you folks got no decency at all.” He pointed at the commander, “and I knew you bought a damn bottle of bourbon with you.”

 

***

 

 _0_ _4_ _:_ _38_ _|_ _Download at_ _4_ _2_ _._ _3_ _7_ _%_

 

Genji sat himself down heavily at the bar. He clicked his fingers for attention.

 

“Still do that black freezing highball?”

 

The waiter nodded.

 

“I’ll have one. And I want a straw in it.”

 

Hanzo was sitting next to him, shoulders heavy, sloped over a glass and a half empty bottle of sake.

 

“How did you find me?” He didn’t look Genji’s way as he spoke.

 

“You kidding? You’ve been coming here for ten years.”

 

“I do not frequent this place often.”

 

“Just when you want to brood alone.”

 

Hanzo gave him a dark sidelong look, then took an unapologetically long draft from his glass. He drained it and poured another.

 

The waiter who came back over was not the same one Genji had spoken to earlier. She was woman in a crisp white shirt and black apron. She stopped before him.

 

“Read the sign,” she gestured to a large paper sign behind her. _O_ _mnics not served here,_ was written in a number of different languages, in case anyone missed it. Genji had not.

 

“Know who he is?” Genji jerked his head in Hanzo’s his direction.

 

The waiter glanced at Hanzo. She nodded,

 

“The head of the Shimada family,” she said guardedly.

 

“I’m his brother, fetch me a drink.” Genji brought his cybernetic arm into plain view, he let three shuriken roll out of a compartment in his wrist and load between his fingers. The waiter’s eyes widened a fraction. Genji flicked his wrist and sent all three shuriken simultaneously flying at the poster. They stacked one above the other, slicing the sign neatly in half. It fluttered lazily to the floor in two pieces. “Your racist sign offends me. Your highballs better still be good.”

 

The waiter moved off quickly to fulfil his request.

 

“Must you always be so dramatic?” Hanzo said, but without much energy or malice.

 

Genji said nothing, but let the lights in his unashamedly visible augments and armour flash for a few moments like disco lights.

 

“Still an embarrassment,” Hanzo muttered, but the words were almost fond.

 

A long tall glass was set in front of Genji with a straw poking out of it.

 

“Thanks,” he said amiably, as if there’d been no problem. He reached behind to his spine and unplugged a tube. It let out a soft hiss. He was aware of Hanzo staring. He’d been masking all of his less human needs since they’d been reunited. Tonight, Genji had had enough of hiding. He connected the pipe to the straw, reversed the intake, and vacuumed the entire cocktail up in a second. “Yeaah…” Genji let out a sigh, “that better go straight to my bloodstream.”

 

Hanzo stared at him. He returned his eyes slowly to his own drink, unsure what to say. A silence fell between them, broken only by Genji twirling his empty cocktail glass and making it spin on the table.

 

“How would you know if I’ve been coming here ten years? You were only fifteen ten years ago,” Hanzo broke the stillness.

 

Genji tilted his head and gave him a look,

 

“You think that stopped me coming in here?”

 

“It should have.”

 

“Pff. I followed you to loads of places you didn’t know about.”

 

Hanzo frowned,

 

“Why?”

 

“Why?” Genji laughed. It was a little hollow, but Hanzo supposed that might have been the effect of the ventilator, “because I wanted to know what you liked, so that I could like it too, and you would like me.”

 

Hanzo blinked. His knuckles were white on the glass he was gripping hard. He went very quiet.

 

“Hey, hey, you. Yeah, you,” Genji clicked at the waiting staff, deliberately being obnoxious, “got any soup?”

 

“The kitchen is closed. We can heat up a miso soup, Mr Shimada, but that is all.” The waiter was stiff and cold, but polite.

 

“I want that, but I want everything in it pulverised.”

 

“… Pulverised, Mr Shimada?”

 

“You heard me. You people not got a food processor or anything?”

 

“I will see what we can do.”

 

“You do that.”

 

Hanzo took the opportunity to pull his brain back into gear.

 

“Whatever made you think I didn’t like you?” he said, wishing he had not drunk so much, so could keep a better hold of the emotion in his voice.

 

“Eh. Was kind of obvious.” Genji lounged against the bar, looking much more like the easy-going confident brother Hanzo remembered. “Tried very hard to invite you to things you might like, to even talk to you about things you liked. When you left school it was like the last thing we had in common was gone. Believe it or not, but there was a time when I thought you were incredibly cool. Of course, that was a long time ago, before I clearly became the cooler of the two of us.”

 

A small, shy, genuine smile escaped Hanzo though he kept his eyes on his glass, head bowed slightly.

 

“You know, once I even passed up an opportunity to watch a premiere screening of Godzilla 3D 3 to go and have tea with you. _Tea._ Instead of _Godzilla_. That’s a lot of fucking dedication, you know.”

 

“Really?” Hanzo’s face was devoid of its usual mask, and small uncertain emotions were creeping into it – amusement, disbelief, and a trepidation as if at any moment he was afraid he might break whatever was happening here.

 

“Yeah! Really! My mates got me these sweet tickets. I was maybe uhh… When did Gozilla 3D 3 come out-”

 

“Is that really what it was called?”

 

“Yep. Huh, I’ve got really quick internet look-up – people think I’m really up on my pop culture these days, but I’m just wired into the web twenty-four seven – came out March fifty-six, so a few months before I turned sixteen. Yeah, so they got me these sweet tickets and we were all set to go after school. I remember they called at the door and I had my shoes on to go, but then you called.”

 

“Uh huh. And what did I say?” Hanzo sounded like he didn’t really believe any of this story.

 

“You said if I really wanted to got to that old fashioned tea room with you, then you had a spare hour now.”

 

There was quiet.

 

“So… what did you do?”

 

“I already told you, I went to fucking tea with you. And I took off all my cool clothes and put boring ones on because you chose such a high end place they wouldn’t have let me in in my normal clothes.”

 

“Your clothes were never normal,” Hanzo gave a half chuckle, but his insides were cold from Genji’s story. He could barely recall the incident in question, but it did sound vaguely familiar. “You used to wear that hideous white gi with ripped off arms and loud orange writing on it. And it clashed with your god awful-”

 

“Green hair. Yeah, I know. Only grew that out relatively recently. And hey if Ryu and Ken can pull off a ripped up gi then so can I.”

 

The waiter put down a bowl of miso soup before Genji.

 

“Pulverised for you, Mr Shimada,” the waiter said stiffly.

 

“Thanks. Can I get a straw for this too?” He gave the waiter a thumbs up.

 

“You’re going to…” Hanzo cycled his finger and indicated at the soup.

 

“Slurp it up through a massive tube. Yep.”

 

The waiter dunked a straw unceremoniously in Genji’s soup.

 

Hanzo took a more respectable sip from his sake. It felt strange just drinking whilst Genji had a soup. He indicated to the waiter.

 

“Miso for me also.”

 

“A… a normal miso, Master Shimada?”

 

Hanzo nodded.

 

“So…” Hanzo meandered back to the story at hand, “what happened at this tea, was it worth missing your film for?”

 

“Eh…” Genji made a non-committal noise. A ghost of insecurity flitted over his face. His fingers hesitated as he pulled the tubing out of his back again. He focussed on fixing it to his soup straw, and waited until the soup was lowering at a much steadier and slower pace than the cocktail had. “It was ok. But you had to take a call and leave early.”

 

Hanzo’s face fell.

 

“It was good up until then, though,” Genji added, “and it was a pretty urgent thing that came up. You did say you were sorry you had to go.”

 

Hanzo swilled the sake in his glass and drank again.

 

“I don’t even remember this happening.”

 

Genji gave a sigh. It was wistful.

 

“Yeah, I know. Don’t beat yourself up over it though. It was just some day a long time ago. Everyone was always pushing so much on you. I don’t even know how you managed. I would have just thrown it all back in their faces and told them ‘screw this’.”

 

“You did pretty much do that,” Hanzo drank again and emptied the glass. He refilled it with what was left of the bottle. His manner was still even and open, not yet the yawning pit of self-loathing that Genji knew he was a step from diving head-first into at any moment. He supposed they’d become more alike in that regard at least. “You really thought I didn’t like you?” Hanzo looked up and nodded his thanks when a much more respectable bowl of miso soup was set before him along with a set of black chopsticks with mother-of-pearl inlay.

 

Genji hesitated again, glad for the waiter’s distraction while he gathered himself.

 

“Well, I mean, I knew I always got in your way. And that my tastes were… always more childish. I just wanted… well, it doesn’t matter what I wanted. In the end I got tired of trying to please everyone and be liked by people. There’s no pleasing anyone anyway, so why not just go big and have a good time while you’re at it.”

 

“I did like you.”

 

Genji looked up sharply. He was glad his mask covered most of his face, but a slight blush still came up over his cheeks. He turned his attention to his soup as it gradually vanished up the straw with a thin gurgle. He sniffed, drawing in the smell until he could almost remember the taste.

 

“Hanzo, you didn’t notice me.”

 

“I didn’t notice everything,” Hanzo admitted, “but I always liked you. Always cared for you.”

 

Genji fiddled with the emptied cocktail glass. The waiter came and took it out of his restless hands.

 

“I really did try at first,” Genji said suddenly.

 

“I know you did,” Hanzo sounded uncharacteristically gentle.

 

“I know everyone set high standards for you. I know you always had a hard time, and that people like Father were always serious and expected things of you, while being more lax with me. But you were my standard, and as it gradually became clear that I wasn’t you, more and more people lost patience – I lost patience. I couldn’t remember all that stuff you remembered, names of different important people for generations, statistics and bank accounts, who owed what, the rankings of this and that, the appropriate response to which person, even your handwriting was fucking perfect.”

 

“Yours was amazingly bad. Like your archery.”

 

“Thanks, this is actually the Genji list of Genji’s failings. Does not need Hanzo footnotes.”

 

“Sorry, thought we were making a realistic list, and I have a lot to add to it.”

 

They looked at each other, then both laughed. Hanzo smiled into his soup bowl, a low chuckle escaping him, while Genji’s laugh came more open and unafraid, despite its slight echo through his machinery. For a few moments the years fell away and the bar was full of softer memories.

 

Hanzo put his hand to his beard, covering the genuine smile still on his face. Their laughter faded and Genji took the moment to hook his tubing back into his spine. There was another lapse into silence. Hanzo sipped at his soup and slurped up thick udon noodles. Genji tried not to watch jealously.

 

“I’m sorry,” Hanzo said abruptly.

 

Genji’s breath stopped in his ventilator.

 

“Sorry for all those times I ignored you. I could have done more to look out for you. I was a lousy older brother.” Hanzo stopped to pick at mushrooms in his soup bowl and place them in his mouth.

 

Genji didn’t know what to say. An apology for being ignored as a child really wasn’t what he’d been hoping for. All he could think of was Hanzo stringing his bow with slow deliberate weight, eyes lowered, but dark, certain, decisive. And Genji paralysed by betrayal, disbelief and hope. Hope that this wasn’t what it looked like. Slow aching dread was building in him, like a rock turning in a void pulling more and more fragments and shards until hard, angular, broken things filled him up. He could feel himself flickering between his old life and his new life. He glanced briefly at his brother, then quickly back at the empty soup bowl before him. There were other things stirring too. He became distinctly aware that the man who had torn most of his limbs off was sitting next to him. Genji stood abruptly.

 

“It’s late. We need you for the next part of this mission. Please can you be ready in the morning to help us?” And not stone cold unconscious with a sake bottle in your hand. That went unsaid, but Hanzo got the drift.

 

“How the tables have turned,” Hanzo was still mild and light in his manner, but there was a different quality to his voice. His usual facade of reserve was back in place. He had noticed his last comment hurt Genji then.

 

When Genji said nothing, Hanzo nodded.

 

“I’ll be there.” He returned to his sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the full on heavy angst in this chapter. Gets a little lighter next chapter. Some more Shimada shinanigans.  
> Also, some of you may have noticed that there's now a chapter count up - I finished a full draft of this story yesterday :) Was waiting to see if Storm Rising was going to give us any additional canon material of importance before I wrote the last chapter. I'm going to keep correcting and editting things over the coming weeks, so I'll still be updating a chapter a week at the moment. Thanks for all your comments and hello to new readers! Hope I didnt scare you off with this week's 6000 word angst fest!


	21. Walking the Fine Line of Tradition

It was late morning and they were all gathered back in the shabby apartment. Hanzo, to his credit, looked brushed and clean and like he hadn’t spent most of the night keeping the local distillery in business. He had a collected, business-like pride to his walk as he paced the room.

 

“I understand the situation has changed somewhat, with the arrival of this extremist omnic group on the scene. You are obviously keen to hunt down such a group, but my part here is to follow the leads of the remaining omnic artefacts stolen from my castle. Given that we have no more forthcoming information on the whereabouts of this Nullsector group-”

 

“Couldn’t you ask Mr Sasaki?” Genji put in, “he knows you’re looking for these parts and that he owns them wrongly.”

 

Hanzo tutted,

 

“Hardly. Since you shot up his tower and business partner, and stole the only actual piece of merchandise we can pin to him, there is little more we will be able to get from him. Not to mention the delicate situation this places us in with regard to the Yaushiro more generally. It is a very tentative peace, and I imagine Blackwatch does not want to get dragged into a war with the Yakuza.”

 

“You imagine correctly,” Reyes said.

 

Hanzo pondered for a moment,

 

“Who else was in the meeting with you?” he asked Genji.

 

“The meeting? Which meeting? There was only me and Jesse when we met Mr Sasaki, then later there was also N-294 – the omnic – I mean.”

 

“What about the second signature I saw on infra-red. Omnics don’t show up on that. Someone else was in the initial meeting Mr Sasaki was having before you arrived.”

 

“Before I arrived?” Genji repeated a little testily, “well, how am I meant to know about that?”

 

“Hanzo’s right,” Reyes murmured, he was scratching his beard in thought. “There was a second heat signature. Someone who came upstairs with Mr Sasaki…”

 

“That entire level was floor-to-ceiling glass walls,” Ana put in, she’d had a good view of it through her scope, “you must have seen the second person walk right past you.”

 

“I don’t… recall anything like that,” Genji was beginning to feel incompetent, “Jesse?”

 

Jesse’s face looked like it was going through the gradual phases of evolution all in a matter of seconds. He arrived at a picture of epiphany.

 

“I ain’t got a clue,” he said, “but I think I might know how we can find out.”

 

Ten minutes later, they were all crowded round the computer desk. All except Genji, who was sitting a tactical way off, dying of embarrassment.

 

“We… we can fast forward through this bit,” Jesse urged, finger going to the mobile phone he’d hooked up to the holoscreens. The video he’d taken in the Yaushiro tower looked very big on the holoscreen.

 

“Leave it,” Reyes said, “we don’t want to miss anything.”

 

“We could turn the sound off at least,” Jesse said urgently as a throbbing bass beat lit up the speakers.

 

“Listen for footsteps, could be our only cue as to when and what we’re looking for,” Ana put in.

 

The phone camera was focussed on the floor and gradually swung up until its view was full of bristly beard.

 

“I uh – always get the little reverse camera thing on the wrong setting at first,” McCree whispered in his defence. Ana hushed him as the camera flipped. Genji gave a long slow release of air from his seat on the floor. The video showed Genji Shimada in a sharp suit with his cybernetic lights winking in time to the music. His shoulders shuffled and his arms moved fluid to the music, while his head moved back and forth like a cool, controlled pigeon.

 

Ana raised an eyebrow,

 

“Interesting.”

 

Hanzo’s lips pursed, his eyes scanned the background of the camera. McCree hadn’t kept his phone very still. The image got even more blurry as Jesse received a glass from the waiter.

 

“That was for my cover, Boss,” McCree hurried to explain, “I wasn’t drinkin’ on the job or anythin’.”

 

The camera refocussed slightly on Genji’s smooth dance moves. Hanzo let out an audible noise of exasperation. Real Genji buried his head deeper into his hands.

 

“Ok the bit where Mr Sasaki comes in is coming any minute,” Jesse put in, “any minute.”

 

“ _Not bad,”_ camera Jesse said, voice loud and clipping over the close microphone, _“I mean I’d take a shot o’ whiskey over it any day, but all things considered this ain’t half bad.”_

 

“ _You’ve unlocked possible conversation option one with my brother,”_ camera Genji said back to camera Jesse.

 

“ _Yeah, pass,_ ” camera Jesse said, but real Jesse jumped in,

 

“I actually just remembered where this conversation goes, and it gets kinda rude so maybe we should-”

 

“Quiet,” Reyes snapped, eyes fixed on the glass corridor in the background of the video, where a figure was just coming into view.

 

“ _...hundreds o’ kinds of sake an’ he knows them all an’ if you say you like the wrong one he’ll give you that look like-”_ camera Jesse continued on to his inevitable conclusion, “ _Insolent cur!_ ” he finished, in an impression good enough to be clearly identifiable as Hanzo.

 

Real Jesse’s face drained of all colour.

 

Camera Genji was laughing and leaning on the fountain. Mr Sasaki was approaching him from behind. Another figure continued on down the glass corridor behind them and vanished.

 

“ _Mr Shimada, you are enjoying my hospitality as usual, I see,_ ” Sasaki said. The picture tilted down, there was a crackle of sound and Jesse’s clumsy fingers came into view. Then the video ended.

 

“Really sorry about that,” Jesse said sheepishly to Hanzo, “I didn’t mean anything by it, just-”

 

“Akemi,” Hanzo interrupted sharply, “the other man in the meeting was Akemi. He’s one of mine. And he’s been directing much of the theft of my artefacts. It appears he’s in deeper in this conspiracy than I first assumed. The answers we wish to find lie with him. I will go and see if I can get a location on him.” Hanzo left.

 

“Oh fuck.” Jesse pulled his hand slowly down his face. “How deep in the shit am I?” he turned to Genji.

 

“Pretty deep,” Genji’s face was still shades of embarrassment.

 

Reyes sat back in his chair,

 

“Highly unprofessional, but in this instance, it got the job done. Good work, boys.”

 

Ana gave a slightly disapproving follow-up look, but didn’t add anything further.

 

***

 

Genji and Jesse were sitting on the rooftop balcony of the block watching the grey sky move into the dim shades of later evening. Hanzo hadn’t returned yet, and there was little to do until he regrouped with them. Reyes opened the steel balcony door in time to see Genji toss a shuriken into the air and McCree shoot the thing out of the air with his revolver. His expression turned thundercloud black.

 

“Oh… haha, hi, Boss. Didn’t see ya there,” Jesse winced.

 

“Do you know how loud a fucking revolver is, Jesse McCree?”

 

“Yep, yep. But we’re really high up, Boss, and-”

 

“If the neighbour below calls the police because they can hear shots fired?”

 

Jesse looked sheepish. Genji was grinning next to him.

 

“Don’t think you’re off the hook either, Shimada.” Reyes turned his furious eyebrows on him.

 

“I only threw shuriken, Commander. No one can hear those.”

 

“No but they can feel them once they hit terminal velocity and come through the top of their skull when dropped from god-knows how many floors. Did no one here take an exam in school?”

 

“In science?”

 

“In common sense,” Reyes gave a growl of frustration. He brought his phone out of his pocket and beckoned to Genji. Genji got up warily, not sure if this was still part of the lecture. “I got a message from your brother. He’s given us a location to check out but advises waiting for him before going in. He’s been contacted by some… Yakuza boss, and has to go to a meeting this evening to smooth things over.”

 

“He what?” Genji was immediately sober, “he’s been summoned by the _Oyabun_?”

 

“Oyabun? Yeah, that’s what it says here.” He showed Genji the message. Genji’s eyebrows knitted into a frown. “Is that bad?” Reyes asked.

 

“Probably. Is he going with anyone? He’s not going on his own is he?”

 

Reyes shrugged,

 

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

 

There was a pause. Genji drew in a breath.

 

“I want to go with him.”

 

“Nope,” Reyes stowed his phone, “not if it’s dangerous. He’s expendable. You’re not.”

 

Genji’s eyes flashed,

 

“He’s my brother.”

 

“And I’m your commander. Deal with it.” Reyes pulled open the door to the stairwell.

 

Genji hurried after him,

 

“Wait, Commander: he stands a much better chance of coming out of all this well if I go with him. And the only reason he’s in this trouble is because we’ve put him up to it.”

 

Reyes ignored him.

 

“Commander, please. I’m good at talking to people, I know you won’t believe me, but honestly I am. I can make the problems between the Shimada and the rest of Akita go away, I know I can.”

 

Reyes finally stopped part way down a staircase and looked at him,

 

“Why do you want this? After everything we talked about last night-”

 

“I was in a bad mood. You know how it is – it comes and goes. Anyway, this is good for the mission – it’ll get us back on track quickest if I go with him. Can I go, Commander? Please?”

 

Reyes put a hand over his face, and gave a long puff of air,

 

“Only if you take McCree with you.”

 

“To meet the _Oyabun_? I… don’t think that’s a good idea.”

 

“You said Japanese like foreign guests.”

 

“Well, yes, we do, but not in our most private business meetings… It’ll be awkward enough that I turn up when it’s just Hanzo that’s been summoned.”

 

“I don’t want you on your own. Not with your shady brother, and not with shady crime bosses.”

 

Genji was warmed by that. He gave a slight smile, hoping it was conveyed through the mask,

 

“I’ve been around my shady brother and shady crime bosses all my life, Commander.”

 

“And you nearly lost it because of them,” Reyes snapped.

 

Genji shrunk away. His eyes lowered. Reyes looked at the dejected picture. He gave another sigh.

 

“Alright. Alright. Go. Join him. But be careful, ok? And remember you don’t owe this guy a goddamn thing.”

 

Genji beamed,

 

“Thank-you. I won’t let you down.” Genji vaulted over the edge of the railings and dropped down, taking Reyes’ breath and several years off his life with him.

 

“Genji!” Reyes snarled, putting a hand to his pounding chest as he looked over the railing and into the stairwell.

 

Genji was perched on the railings several floors below, he gave a thumbs up and called,

 

“All good, Commander!”

 

***

 

 

Genji was following the red blip in front of his eyes. The commander had run a trace on Hanzo’s phone and sent the signal to Genji’s head. Genji could follow the tracking beacon in real time over his vision. He dimmed the electronic overlay a little. As he did, he caught sight of the now customary clock and download in small glowing digits.

 

 _17_ _:_ _02_ _|_ _Download at_ _48.87_ _%_

 

It was getting dark, and the city was so busy and full of bright moving lights, that Genji found he remained relatively unnoticed even when he chose the most direct route to follow the blip on his vision. That involved going in a straight line, so when Genji hit a building, he simply scaled it. It might have been quicker to take a guess at the final location Hanzo was aiming for and plot a route that took him there via road, but where was the fun in that? He’d been given some of the most advanced cyber upgrades on the planet and could run up vertical walls: there was no way he was going to walk or take a taxi when he could freehand climb skyscrapers.

 

He took a moment out to pause. The air was cool and the sky was a long clear deep blue, just tipped with the thickening purples of evening. The city was a map of winking light beneath him. The wind ruffled his hair and chilled his exposed skin. The drop beneath him was sheer and vertical, like it had been at Almaty Tower. Except this was here – now – in his home city. When he breathed in he could smell the city – its rich aromas from open air street food stalls, the balmy herbal odours of burning biofuel, and that slightly damp after-rain smell still clinging to the air. There were precious few moments where he felt alive, and thankful, and flood of relief that he was able to do this again – breathe, move, walk, let alone the more incredible things Overwatch had restored to him and enhanced. For all the things he was confused about and dreaded in his new body, there had been nothing more hopeless, more soul-destroying, than to be lying helpless, unable to move, unable to eat, unable to speak, unable to feel anything but pain. And after all the opiates set in, that overwhelming feeling of absence. All the little nerves that should have been sending him signals – his fingers on the bed sheet, his weight on the mattress, his legs beneath the thin blanket – nothing. And his vision blurred and double, filled with tubes and wires and massive equipment and lifesupport all working overtime to keep him functioning. His fixed view filled with the beep of machinery the gurgle of liquids being pumped, the continual heart monitor, the rasp of the makeshift ventilator. And Doctor Ziegler, calm and composed, gentle and compassionate throughout the whole ordeal, her voice meandering to him between the artificial sounds pulsating around him. She’d seen the fragmented thing he’d become and had seen only potential and places for healing. Genji could never separate the image of her face in his mind from the ethereal, angelic work that had brought him back from the brink of death. He was fairly certain everyone in Overwatch was at least a little in love with the doctor.

 

The red blip on his vision took him through back streets, up walls, over the roof of a Family Mart and the parking lot of a 7-11, up and over a number of apartment blocks, until finally it slowed before a high end bathhouse. Genji groaned. There was going to be so much humidity in there that his augmentations were already itching in forewarning.

 

He was stopped at the entrance by two large men in suits, with biceps so big they looked they might pop the seems of their jackets. They were a lot taller than Genji too. They didn’t say anything, content merely to shake their heads and point him away.

 

“I’m Shimada Genji,” he explained. “The head of the Shimada clan is in there.” And for good measure: “he summoned me here, go ask him.”

 

Moments later he was being shown into a wooden waiting room, thick with waxy leaved plants and low comfortable bamboo seating.

 

“I did _not_ summon you here.”

 

It took Genji a moment to spy his brother in the dim light and in amidst the foliage.

 

Hanzo was reclining in a corner, ever present cup of sake in hand. He was in full traditional attire – a black and gold kimono sashed with blue.

 

“You need to leave.” Hanzo didn’t move from his seat, nor did he sound particularly annoyed. Genji could see other things in his posture. There was a slight tenseness to the grip on his cup, betraying his anxiety.

 

“I’ve come to help.” Genji sat down next to his brother and pulled off a bag he’d bound to him for safekeeping in his energetic approach. “I thought you might be dressed up all fancy, so I brought this.” He unzipped the bag and drew out a black kimono bordered in forest green and hakama to match. “I can help with this meeting, you know I can. Don’t try and stop me.”

 

Hanzo glanced at the clothes and let out a huff. His eyebrows went to their customary frown, but Genji could see tension elsewhere leave him.

 

Hanzo sipped his sake,

 

“You’ve never been particularly good at polite conversation in front of your superiors, Genji.”

 

“But I _am_ good at making people feel comfortable, smoothing over problems, and getting everyone on the same side. If you do the formalities, couldn’t I do the bit where we reassure everyone we don’t want a clan war? I’m guessing that’s what this is about.”

 

“And when they ask where you’ve been? And what’s happened to you?”

 

Genji started, caught off guard.

 

“Then… I’ll tell them I’ve been away in America. Studying. And that I picked up a couple of augmentations while I was over there. Someone’s been telling people that anyway.”

 

“What were you studying?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“In America. What were you studying?”

 

“Hanzo, I don’t think they’re going to grill me.”

 

“Answer the question.”

 

“Um. English? My English _has_ got a lot better.”

 

“Good. Follow my lead when we’re inside. Don’t do anything outrageous. And leave Blackwatch and Overwatch out of this.”

 

“Of course.” Genji could feel warmth blooming in his chest. He could count the times on his fingers that Hanzo had said something positive to him and let him join in with something uninvited. It still never failed to make him feel excited and somehow validated.

 

“You going to put that on?” Hanzo nodded to fine clothes Genji had brought with him. Genji’s excitement faded.

 

“Yeah. Unless you think we’ll be in the baths anyway, so maybe I don’t need t-”

 

“I think the _Oyabun_ will expected us to approach fully clothed, Genji,” Hanzo couldn’t quite remove the testiness from his voice, “if there is bathing to follow then we follow protocol accordingly.”

 

“Yes, of course.” Genji looked back at the clothes. They looked neat, and formal, and very not Genji. “Will… will you help me put them on?” Genji kept his eyes averted as he asked this. When he didn’t receive an answer he glanced up anxiously. He was surprised to see an equally anxious look in Hanzo’s eye.

 

“If that is what you wish,” Hanzo said carefully.

 

Genji nodded, then stood silently.

 

Hanzo unfolded the kimono and brushed out the folds. He held it up and Genji slipped his arms in. Hanzo could immediately see his brother’s agitation as the cloth struggled to sit over the external wiring. He waited patiently.

 

Genji reached for the wakizashi at his side. His heart was beating hard. He offered the short sword to Hanzo.

 

Hanzo received it with two hands and bowed slightly as he took it. He drew the blade from its sheath. He could see Genji struggling not to flinch away from the sound. Torments and guilt stormed through Hanzo as he watched the fear in his own brother’s body language, and the difficulty with which he kept his back to Hanzo. Hanzo remained externally calm, waiting until Genji was more relaxed before making clean quick incisions in the material for the auxiliary tubing and wires to feed through. The cuts were much neater than those McCree had made, but Hanzo didn’t miss the flinch that accompanied every slice through the fabric.

 

When he was done, Hanzo resheathed the wakizashi and bowed slightly as he offered it back to his brother. Genji took it and laid it down next to his katana beside him. He pulled on the hakama and tied them roughly, they would be mostly hidden anyway by the kimono. Hanzo came round in front and knelt one knee. He pulled one length of the kimono firmly over the other. Smoothing out the creases. He held the fabric in place with one hand and held out his other expectantly. Genji passed him the green sash. Hanzo wrapped it tight about his middle, tying it off with a finesse Genji had never quite managed to perfect, though not for lack of trying. Once he was done, Hanzo stood.

 

Genji looked down, barely recognising himself. He felt different. With all the loose clothing on, he couldn’t see any of his cybernetic parts. He looked almost human again.

 

“Thank-you,” he mumbled.

 

Hanzo bowed his head in response.

 

Genji looked at his brother. No matter what the circumstance, Hanzo always seemed to look his best and be groomed for any occasion. Genji wondered if he secretly carried a mirror round with him. He hoped he didn’t look too much of a mess next to him. Genji touched his face and came upon the metal of his mask. He felt around it for what was visible.

“Is my hair ok?” he asked.

Hanzo glanced up at him, then frowned.

“Hmph. I don't remember you being this tall. Did that doctor make you taller?”

“No, I’m the same height as I was before.”

“I’m sure you were shorter than me.”

“Yeah, when I was fifteen, Hanzo. You just always wear those metal boot things that give you an inch or two.”

“Hmm...” Hanzo gestured to a seat and Genji sat. Hanzo put out a hesitant hand and placed a finger against the steel holding his brother’s face together. He could see the uncertainty in Genji’s eyes, like he was afraid of what Hanzo might think of him. Hanzo still found it impossible that Genji could possibly care what he thought, could possibly feel ashamed for his appearance when everything about it was Hanzo’s fault and Hanzo’s doing. He tilted Genji’s face away slightly so that he could see his hair better.

“I mean, apart from the fact it’s not green, it looks the same as normal – like it hasn’t seen a brush in years and is sticking up at every angle known to mankind.”

“Oh. Stylish, then,” Genji corrected.

Hanzo looked at him through hooded eyes. Genji gave him a mischievous grin. And for a second it lightened Hanzo’s heart, and it was like he had his little brother back, and nothing had happened between them, and nothing would ever shake that bright spark of admiration behind Genji’s eyes whenever he looked up at Hanzo. Then he remembered the way those same eyes had looked at him as he drew his bow: the confusion, slowly changing through dismay and betrayal, until it hit that special kind of fear that somehow conveyed both Genji’s terror at what was about to happen and that utter brokenness at having failed to meet Hanzo’s standards. Even as Hanzo’s had raised his weapon against him, one of Genji’s last thoughts had been that he wasn’t good enough, and that hurt Hanzo almost more than anything else. Because Genji had never failed his standards, only the strict standards of the clan they’d grown up in. And no matter how irritating or frustrating Genji could be, he was still his little brother who he would have fought the world for. Should have fought the world for. Hanzo turned away.

Genji’s eyes followed the movement. He wondered if just looking at his scarred and plated face was enough to disappoint Hanzo. He ran his fingers back through his hair, nervously trying to flatten it a little.

Hanzo noticed the movement and turned back. A small sigh escaped him when he realised Genji was still misreading his actions and worried about his opinion. He rested a hand on Genji’s hand, stopping the anxious action.

 

“It’s fine,” he said, “let it be.”

 

Genji’s brow flickered uncertainly. Just this once he wanted to try and get right all of the things Hanzo expected of him. He wanted to look smart, and be polite, and be savvy and aware, and say the right things to keep his clan in good graces. He wanted to prove that he could be all those things he was sentenced to death for not being good enough at.

 

A man in a suit approached them.

 

“Master Shimada? The _Oyabun_ invites you to join him.”

 

Hanzo breathed out slowly and nodded. He beckoned for Genji to follow him.

 

They followed the man through a heavy door. The air beyond was hot and humid. Genji immediately felt a faint itching along all his scar lines. He twitched his organic shoulder, trying to loosen up the aching. Hanzo flicked him a faint frown. Genji immediately stilled, forcing himself to endure the irritation stoicly. The floor beneath his feet was slatted bamboo raised above dark stone. Through a haze of heat he could see round, hot, communal baths, with seats lying just below their surface. The baths were relatively empty, but a couple of people passed quiet conversation to one another, enjoying the heat and the water. Waxy leafed tropical plants formed screens between the different baths, lending the place the feel of a controlled jungle.

 

They were led to a large bath where two men sat, chatting amiably. The faint sound of a koto being plucked wound dissonant harmonies through the otherwise hushed bathhouse. The hot humid air, the itching, the ethereal music, and the prospect of the formalities before him were all giving Genji second thoughts. He followed Hanzo’s lead in bowing low, then kneeling at the side of the bath. Genji’s eyes narrowed when he saw who one of the men was: Mr Sasaki, the head of the Yaushiro Clan. Beside him was an older man, with a full tufted white beard, and receding dark hair shot through with grey upon his head. A large faded blue tattoo covered his chest and wound over his shoulders. Genji had never met the _Oyabun_ before. Various family members throughout the years had (probably wisely) decided it was not appropriate. He was very aware now of how the man’s gaze settled upon him.

 

“Thank-you for coming, Mr Shimada,” the man said, with a voice that was deep and used to ordering people around, “and can I assume this is the young Shimada Genji I have heard so much about?”

 

Genji shifted slightly and glanced at Hanzo, unsure if it was his place to answer.

 

“Thank-you for your invitation, Master Satake _._ This is indeed my brother. He was keen to be a part of this meeting, I hope you will not begrudge his presence,” Hanzo spoke carefully.

 

“Not at all,” the _Oyabun_ , Master Satake, replied. He smiled, but to Genji it looked like the kind of smile a wolf might give a small mammal caught between its paws.

 

“It is customary remove all masks when in the presence of the _Oyabun_ ,” the suited man who had led them into the bathhouse said. Genji realised now that he was still present, and part of a line of three men standing silently and ominously in the background, behind the Yakuza boss.

 

“We ask your forgiveness,” Hanzo bowed to the ground. Genji blinked, then hastily followed suit. “My brother has a health condition that requires the mask to remain in place.”

 

 _Yeah, the health condition is you broke my jaw and crushed my throat._ Genji’s thoughts snapped loud through the quiet, stiff, formal atmosphere. His mind always wandered when he was meant to be in these kinds of meetings. _Stay focussed. Stay focussed for Hanzo. Don’t fuck this up. This one time, be the person he doesn’t think you can be._

 

“The mask is a part of his breathing apparatus,” Hanzo finished.

 

Mr Sasaki’s face fell into a frown, this was clearly news to him.

 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the _Oyabun_ said sincerely, “I had not heard anything of a condition befalling the younger Shimada brother.” There was something slightly accusatory about that sentence. Genji couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but this was all Hanzo’s territory anyway – veiled insults and prising information out of people through a series of polite formal exchanges.

 

“There were many things concerning my brother that the Shimada saw fit to keep from public knowledge,” Hanzo replied.

 

 _No shit,_ Genji thought, then tried to school his mind to stay focussed.

 

“Well, I am glad you are able to join us.” The _Oyabun_ looked at Genji as he said this. Hanzo slowly raised himself so that he was kneeling again. Genji copied him. “This matter does, I believe, concern Shimada Genji,” the _Oyabun_ continued, “it was he that was present at the time of the incident that Mr Sasaki was just speaking of.”

 

“Genji was tangentially involved. But he was following my orders.”

 

“So this thing was done with your complicity, Mr Shimada?”

 

“Of course.”

 

There was something unreal about hearing Hanzo defend him in public. It was doing wonders for Genji’s ragged self esteem.

 

The _Oyabun_ paused in thought. There was a long moment of quiet, filled only by the winding polyphony of the koto meandering in the background.

 

“Will you join us?” The _Oyabun_ gestured to the bath, “your brother is most welcome also.”

 

Hanzo tilted his head in agreement. It wasn’t really the kind of request one could refuse. The brothers left in order to change. As soon as they were in the privacy of a changing room, Genji turned to Hanzo.

 

“Is this a good idea? Am I allowed? Will they think I’m dirtying the water because I’m…” He trailed off anxiously.

 

“You were invited,” Hanzo said simply, unwinding the sash from his middle.

 

“But you just helped me get dressed,” Genji gave a nervous laugh, “and with these clothes on they might think that I’m…” He didn’t say ‘normal’, but they could both hear it in the silence. “What if they-”

 

“There is nothing they can say against you that will not be extremely rude at this stage,” Hanzo assured him.

 

“I don’t want them to see that I’m just a tiny bit of a person.” There was a hard stubborn edge to Genji’s voice that Hanzo recognised all too well.

 

“How could you not think this might be an issue when the meeting was in a bathhouse?” Hanzo tried to keep the impatience in his voice to a minimum, “and a moment ago you were complaining at having to wear clothes. Which is it?”

 

“I can be inconsistent if I want,” Genji said defensively. “I want to sit by the edge and watch. Please can you make it so that that’s ok? You always know what to say, and you always-”

 

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

 

“It’s not flattery, it’s true! Hanzo, please-”

 

“Alright!” Hanzo cut in, “but remember if you’re sitting nearby, you’re not in the conversation. You cannot just butt in. You must be invited to speak before you speak. At all other times you remain silent, understood?”

 

Genji nodded quickly. Hanzo looped a towel about his waist once he’d shrugged out of his clothes and folded them neatly. He untied his hair, shaking it free, then rebound it tightly so that no stray hairs fell about his face. Genji waited whilst Hanzo went and washed himself in a stone room off to the side, then followed in his shadow as he returned to the steamy bathhouse. Hanzo walked between the pools, blue dragon tattoo on full display. The few people they passed on the way glanced anxiously at the tattoo. Some looked away, a couple even left.

 

When they returned to the _Oyabun,_ Hanzo took off his towel and handed it to Genji. He descended slowly into the hot water. Genji sat cross-legged on the side, a little to Hanzo’s left. He folded his brother’s towel and laid it on his lap.

 

When Hanzo was seated, he spoke to the _Oyabun_.

 

“It is best for my brother’s condition if he does not join us in bathing. If it suits you, I can ask him to leave and give us some privacy.”

 

“Please,” the _Oyabun_ gestured graciously, “whatever makes you comfortable.”

 

Genji’s shoulders relaxed a little, although he noticed Hanzo’s did not.

 

“Now,” the _Oyabun_ settled more comfortably into the hot water, resting his elbows on the side and stretching his legs, “Mr Sasaki tells me that the Shimada murdered a business partner he was settling a deal with, before making off with the merchandise in question. Perhaps you can shed a little light on this, Mr Shimada.”

 

Hanzo let his skin soak in the water for a moment, turning the request over in his mind while he gathered himself. Genji watched him, he could never understand how Hanzo remained so calm in appearance whilst such large accusations and difficulties were on the line.

 

“Did Mr Sasaki mention the nature of the transaction that the Shimada interrupted, or perhaps where he acquired the merchandise?”

 

Mr Sasaki quickly put in an answer to that,

 

“I explained to Master Satake that as far as _I_ was aware, I purchased the merchandise from a ranking member of the Shimada, and assumed he had his Kumichō’s permission to do so. Was it wrong of me to assume that the Shimada were in control of their own clan?” Mr Sasaki deftly turned his response into an insult. Hanzo’s eyes narrowed at him.

 

“Those within my clan who acted without my permission will be dealt with,” Hanzo said stiffly, “and whilst I of course don’t hold the Yaushiro responsible for the original transaction, I do wonder why you thought it proper to continue your business when it so clearly violated the friendship our clans share.”

 

The _Oyabun_ raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Mr Sasaki. Mr Sasaki spluttered a little under the attention,

 

“I was settling a deal _at that very moment_ with a client! Was I supposed to give an influential client the cold shoulder, possibly ruining Yaushiro relations with them forever, just because the Shimada have some subordination problems they can’t contain to their clan?!”

 

Hanzo’s eyes flashed dangerously,

 

“You were if you expected to maintain good relations with the Shimada, or does belonging to one family under the Kubota mean nothing to you?”

 

Mr Sasaki blushed. It would be hard to make a comeback to that without implying that Yaushiro did not care for the _Oyabun_ ’s leadership.

 

“Master Satake,” Mr Sasake bowed his head as low as he could without touching the water as he spoke to the _Oyabun_ , “the family of course means everything to the Yaushiro. And we of course would have tried to even matters out with the Shimada, but we must object to the Shimada’s heavy handed methods. Disrupting a business meeting? Killing my client? And then there’s the matter of the merchandise having been stolen without so much as recompense!”

 

“Was one-hundred-and-forty-five million yen not recompense enough?”

 

That was Genji.

 

All eyes turned on him. Hanzo’s face was a thinly veiled mask of fury at Genji’s choice to speak unaddressed.

 

“My brother apologises for speaking out of turn. He is young and has trouble leaving his immaturity behind him,” Hanzo said, bowing to the _Oyabun._ He then turned his head and fixed Genji with a look that made Genji shiver. Genji followed suit and bowed low.

 

“Hmm,” the _Oyabun_ glossed over the offence, “what’s this about a large some of money?” He turned to Mr Sasaki.

 

“Ah,” Mr Sasaki looked sheepish, clearly hoping Genji’s intervention was going to be ignored, “young Mr Genji is referring to some gambling debts. On the night in question, he lost a large sum gambling in Yaushiro arcades. I did not mention it before, as he was keen for his Kumichō not to find out. I suppose he doesn’t mind that detail being aired more publicly now, although if we’re going to be completely honest about the matter, it should be pointed out that the exact amount Mr Genji lost was one-hundred-and-forty-five million, sixty-thousand-and-twenty-three yen, and that I waived sixty-thousand-and-twenty-three yen of the sum, since he could not pay it.”

 

Hanzo turned slowly to stare at Genji. Genji’s face went heated red. He’d forgotten he’d overspent even on the agreed amount. He really would have preferred that detail to remain private.

 

The _Oyabun_ gave a slight chuckle, clearly amused by Genji’s embarrassment and Hanzo’s fury.

 

“It seems the Shimada lost much to the Yaushiro that night,” the _Oyabun_ was still amused, but now addressed Mr Sasaki again, “but it hardly seems appropriate to bring up a matter of recompense when so many of their resources slipped into Yaushiro hands, however unwillingly, that night. Or was the merchandise in question worth so much more than one-hundred-and-forty-five million?”

 

Hanzo gave a light scoff, closing off Mr Sasaki’s opportunity to claim the Bastion turret had been worth anything close to that.

 

“Uh, well, it’s not really the monetary loss that injures the Yaushiro,” Mr Sasaki covered quickly, “so much as the insult at having a business partner murdered in our own home.”

 

“That was self-defence,” Genji inserted.

 

“Genji!” Hanzo reprimanded sharply.

 

“It is fine,” the _Oyabun_ put in, “let him continue.”

 

Genji bowed his head to the _Oyabun_ in thanks,

 

“Really, the insult was the Yaushiro’s. Mr Sasaki invited me to his tower as a guest. I asked about the missing Shimada artefacts and he agreed to let me meet his business partner. His business partner proceeded to take out arms and fire at me. When I last looked, it was the host’s prerogative to ensure the safety of his guests. So rightly, I’m the insulted one, not Mr Sasaki.”

 

There was quiet. Genji was trying to read his brother’s body language to see how his interruption was being handled. Hanzo was a closed book however: all Genji could see was that Hanzo was majorly irritated with him speaking before he was spoken to.

 

“Is this so, Mr Sasaki?” The _Oyabun_ turned to the head of the Yaushiro. Mr Sasaki opened his mouth in a manner that looked like he might disagree with Genji. Genji decided he’d already put his foot in the polite conversation now, so he might as well make the most of it.

 

“Yep, it is,” Genji interrupted again, “a mate of mine was there too, so if we want a witness or anything, I could always get him in.” Genji could practically see the hair standing up on the back of Hanzo’s neck at the impropriety. His words did the trick however, and Mr Sasaki had to open and shut his mouth a few times like a goldfish before he could think of anything to say.

 

“Now that… I recall, it did happen in a similar fashion to that described by Mr Genji.”

 

The _Oyabun_ frowned.

 

“I see.” There was a pause. Then he rose from the bath, and held out a hand. A suited man stepped forth from the background and handed him a towel. The _Oyabun_ wrapped the towel about him and stepped onto the side, “It seems to me like there is little more that needs resolving here, gentlemen. I am disappointed that two clans so dear to my heart would fight over such a trivial matter. Mr Shimada, it seems like this confusion stems from a lack of discipline in your clan. You are young, but we have come to expect great things of you. A mishap like this does not reflect well on your leadership. I suggest you get matters in hand before a more serious problem occurs.”

 

Both Hanzo and Mr Sasaki glowered at that statement: Mr Sasaki because of the triviality made of his grievance, and Hanzo because even when he was secretly responsible for the collapse of his clan, it still hurt that someone called him incompetent.

 

“I apologise, Master Satake,” Hanzo bowed his head, then said more ominously, “the Shimada Clan will not be making any more mistakes in future.”

 

Genji had to repress a shiver. There was no way the others present could know the foreboding that statement promised.

 

The _Oyabun_ departed with his entourage, leaving Hanzo, Genji and Mr Sasaki still at the bath. Genji gave Mr Sasaki a salute,

 

“Thought you were going to keep my secrets for me, Mr Sasaki?” Genji spoke more playfully now that the _Oyabun_ was gone.

 

“Thought you were going to be less of a little prick, Genji,” Mr Sasaki retorted.

 

Hanzo’s eyes flashed in anger. Mr Sasaki noticed this and was immediately more reserved.

 

Genji merely laughed,

 

“I definitely never promised anything like that. Hope this doesn’t mean I’m banned from your arcades,” Genji grinned.

 

“It does,” Hanzo said coldly. He extended a hand, demanding his towel. Genji passed it to him.

 

“Not by me leastwise,” Mr Sasaki mused. “Shimada discipline and manners might not be what they were, but your cash is still up to standard.”

 

“Have a care how you speak.” Hanzo stepped out of the bath and looked down imperiously at Mr Sasaki as he spoke. “There are some other Shimada standards you might not care to test.”

 

“Are you threatening me, Mr Shimada?” Mr Sasaki’s voice was sharp.

 

“He’s not,” Genji insisted, “he’s just like that. You know. It’s his way of saying, good day, Mr Sasaki, we’re really glad our families didn’t fall out or feud this fine evening.”

 

The hard lines in Mr Sasaki’s face receded and he shook his head slightly.

 

Minutes later, Genji was sitting in the changing room whilst his brother dressed in silence.

 

“Are you angry with me?” Genji tried to sound innocent. He knew Hanzo was angry with him. “I thought that went quite well. It went according to plan at least – you handling the formality and me doing the social bit…”

 

Hanzo’s lips were pursed together, his attention firmly focussed on folding the fabric of his clothes perfectly across him.

 

“Is this… is this about… that tiny bit extra I spent on the credit card? Because I can explain that.” Genji’s fingers twitched anxiously.

 

“Explain it then.”

 

Genji glanced up, encouraged by Hanzo finally speaking. His hope was immediately dashed by the task at hand.

 

“I was just… I was doing as you asked, and I just… I miscalculated a little. It wasn’t that much… sixty-thousand or so.”

 

Hanzo’s eyes fixed on him. Genji could feel old inadequacies squirming in his gut.

 

“And I wasn’t trying to hide it from you,” he continued, reading all those familiar accusations he knew those glares were saying. “It was just – Mr Sasaki said he’d waive it anyway, so I didn’t think it would be a problem. And – OK – so obviously I didn’t want you to find out, is that so bad? I didn’t think this would come up again…”

 

“Never be indebted to your enemy.”

 

Genji had been expecting a reprimand, but that was a little different to how he thought it was going to sound.

 

“I…- OK,” he said lamely.

 

“We must be the united front. The secret you keep from me is a weapon the enemy can use to drive us apart and make us appear weak.”

 

Genji wondered why Hanzo had never taken the time to explain his failures like this before. It made much more sense of all the seemingly insignificant things Hanzo was always getting frustrated by.

 

“Sorry,” Genji said quietly, “I didn’t think of it that way.”

 

Hanzo finished dressing and slung his bow and quiver over his shoulder.

 

“It wasn’t how I envisioned the meeting going down, but your contributions were not unhelpful. Come. Let us be going.”

 

Genji followed his brother out of the bathhouse, face screwed up as he tried to work out if Hanzo had just complimented him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully all these political shenanigans are easy to follow. When characters are speaking Japanese, all their honorifics are in English, if you're wondering why there are a hundred "Mr"s and "Master"s flying around and they keep changing depending on who's speaking to who.  
> I mentioned a while back that there were two sketches that inspired me in the course of writing this story. The other one is this dressing scene - I originally wanted it a few chapters ago, but Genji and Hanzo weren't ready to be closer to one another then, so this one is instead a mirror to the earlier scene where Jesse intervenes to help Genji get dressed when he's too afraid to let Hanzo be near him. So here's the [other sketch I liked and inspired some of this chapter.](https://syokutaku.tumblr.com/post/161852746125/brothers-who-are-close-to-each-other)
> 
> Thanks as always for your support and comments!


	22. Honesty and Confession

“How’d everythin’ go yesterday?” Jesse hung his feet down from his bunk on the ORCA jet. With their business concluded with the Yaushiro Clan, Reyes had relocated them back to the jet until a more suitable place (with a good coffee machine) could be located.

 

Genji nodded, making the action large enough for Jesse to catch. People found it harder to read him without his face visible. Apart from Hanzo apparently, but then he’d always been incisive with his observations. That wasn’t a good thing in Genji’s opinion.

 

“Yeah. All cleared up,” Genji answered.

 

Hanzo swept in and walked straight to through to the cockpit, not so much as glancing in Jesse’s direction.

 

Jesse chewed his lip,

 

“He still mad about the thing with the video?”

 

“Uh huh,” Genji replied amiably. He did feel bad for McCree, but it was also amusing to see someone on Hanzo’s bad side that wasn’t just him.

 

Jesse looked troubled and pensive again,

 

“Should I go apologise again?”

 

Genji shrugged,

 

“You can try.”

 

Jesse jumped down from his bunk and made for the cockpit, Genji was a step behind him.

 

“Where’re you goin’?”

 

“To watch.” Genji grinned with his eyes.

 

“You little bastard!” Jesse pushed him, “you’re just settin’ me up to fail!”

 

“It’ll be worse if you don’t apologise,” Genji could barely contain his amusement at the whole situation, “you’ll be walking down some corridor while he’s covering for you, and you’ll need him to snipe someone and he’ll just come out with all the gold – ‘Oh sorry, now you need me? Too bad, Mr McCree’, like that.”

 

“Oh so _you’re_ allowed to mock him and get away with it?”

 

“Uh yeah, because I wasn’t recording myself as I did it, Jesse. And neither did I have the wise idea to play if back in front of him and my boss.”

 

“Alright, smartass. Twist the dagger in why don’t you.”

 

Genji put a hand to his ventilator to cover the sound of the chuckle that escaped him.

 

In the cockpit, Ana and Hanzo were studying a 3D map of the city that was hovering at hip height. Hanzo ignored them as they walked in.

 

Ana smiled at them, but it was the quick smile of someone who was busy with other things.

 

“Ah, didn’t mean to interrupt.” Jesse turned around and aimed for the door again.

 

Genji gave him a shove back into the room.

 

Jesse took a deep breath. He stood a few paces from Hanzo and gave a little cough. He took his hat off his head and held it tightly in his hands like a contrite schoolboy.

 

“Move to the left, please. You’re blocking the map.” Hanzo made a gesture with his hand like he was swatting a fly away. Jesse took a step to the left, the hologram flickering as he did so. Little buildings made of light were all around him. A high rise was growing through Jesse’s stomach, it was all a bit awkward really. He gave Ana a pained look.

 

She took pity on him.

 

“I think Jesse has something he wishes to say to you,” Ana said gently to Hanzo.

 

Hanzo’s eyes flicked up, finally resting on McCree, devoid of interest.

 

“And what could Mr McCree possibly wish to say to me?”

 

Jesse took this as an invitation,

 

“I… er… I just wanted to apologise on account o’ how I was mighty rude yesterday. Well – I mean the rude in question was some nights before, but the uh – video where I was – well, that. I’m sorry for that, Mr… er, Shimada.” Jesse glanced at Genji who nodded in encouragement, “and I didn’t mean anythin’ by it, ‘cause all things considered, you don’t seem that bad ‘n’ all.”

 

“All things considered?” Hanzo repeated.

 

Ana put a hand to her face. McCree saw her behind Hanzo and hesitated. He glanced back at Genji who was now shaking his head, emphatically negative.

 

“Uh… yeah. I mean, I was prepared for you to be… you know, after all I’d heard about you.”

 

“Heard about me?” Hanzo’s voice was getting softer and more deadly.

 

Genji’s head was shaking so vigorously that McCree no longer had to glance his way to catch sight of it.

 

“Well,” the hole was dug now and McCree wasn’t really sure where the exit was, “all I’d heard was about you murderin’ your brother. So I wasn’t sure what kinda fella to expect other than…”

 

“… A murderer,” Hanzo finished. His voice was quiet.

 

Genji felt a flutter of panic. The anger had gone from his brother’s voice and was now replaced with something much worse.

 

“Sorry,” Genji butted in. He put an arm firmly around Hanzo’s shoulders, “there’s actually something I forgot I needed clarifying. It’s yesterday stuff, personal.” McCree’s face was wavering and doubtful. “Yakuza business,” Genji finished, and led Hanzo out of the cockpit and back into the living quarters.

 

Once they were alone, Hanzo shrugged off Genji’s arm.

 

“Your friend is right to hate me.”

 

“Don’t start that again. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

 

There was quiet. It was a brooding quiet. Genji could see dark weighty things gathering on Hanzo’s shoulders. Like they did on his own whenever Genji looked too long in a mirror.

 

“Can’t you just be glad that I’m here with you?”

 

Genji surprised himself by blurting that aloud.

 

Hanzo regarded him with dark eyes harbouring heavy burdens,

 

“And acknowledge that I’ve not only tried to kill you, but failed and forced you to live like this?”

 

Genji retracted and his stomach turned. He felt suddenly small and broken, and had the sudden urge to check at his own reflection again. To look and see all the damage. He wanted to run and hide in a cupboard.

 

“I’m… I’m trying to get on and live with this body. I really… I really need you to help me do that.” Was there any point trying to explain this to Hanzo? He was so swamped in his own guilt, Genji doubted he could see beyond it. “I need for it to be okay that this is how I am now. I need… you to accept me. Accept that I’m alive. That I’m here. That this is real. That I’m… still your brother even though I’m…” Genji looked down at himself. That voice was loud in his head. The one doubting, the one that couldn’t believe what it was looking at when it looked at his body. _Are you? Are you his brother? You barely managed to live up to that when you had four limbs and_ _a set of_ _functioning organs._ _You can’t accept yourself. How could you ever expect_ him _to accept you? You’re only here because a paramilitary organisation saw your potential as a weapon. Not even your own mother came to sit with you as you died. You were dying alone. Thousands of friends, hundreds of parties, tens of lovers. But you died alone._

 

Genji stiffened and straightened. Hanzo still hadn’t spoken. His face was haunted with troubles and ghosts of his own. Genji drew a cold empty exterior over his inner turmoil.

 

“Accept Jesse’s apology. He wants to do right by you. Be an adult and stop needlessly hurting people. Will your guilt at least let you do that?”

 

Genji hit the ramp control for the jet. It lowered and he walked out into the morning. He needed a little light, a little air, a little time away from all this darkness.

 

As he did Reyes walked passed him up the ramp, he turned around, walking backwards so he could see Genji storm out,

 

“What I miss?” When he got to the top of the ramp he saw Hanzo. “Ah, should have guessed.”

 

Hanzo turned away sharply from those words. It was the first true display of emotion Reyes had seen from him. Reyes sighed and strode to the cockpit. He found Jesse kicking his heels together staring down at the ground, and Ana frowning over the holo-map.

 

“Who died? I leave for half an hour and it’s grimmer than a funeral in here. Reyes sat himself down in one of the control chairs and sighed. “Right, what have we got here. Jesse, spill it or move it.”

 

Jesse tucked his thumbs behind his belt buckle.

 

“I ain’t spilling anythin’. But I’m beginning to wonder why I’m here, Boss. I ain’t even pulled the trigger o’ my Peacekeeper once and instead I listened to umpteen hours o’ people talkin’ in Japanese around me ‘n’ then expectin’ me to keep up ‘n’ not do anythin’ insultin’. An’ as far as I can see, you so much as _breathe_ round here ‘n’ someone’s insulted.”

 

“You know not all missions can be solved with a gunshot, Jesse,” Reyes said idly, “otherwise I wouldn’t have needed to hire all you Blackwatch agents. I could have just shot everyone myself. There’s boring stuff that needs doing sometimes. That’s what I hired you kids for.”

 

Ana tilted her head to one side and gave Gabriel a look. She shook her head slightly and returned to the map.

 

“’M just sayin’ there ain’t a whole lot for a man with my talents to do ‘round here is all.”

 

“It’s Genji that wanted you here, not me.”

 

“Gee, thanks, Boss. Way to get a guy’s spirits up. Genji don’t need me here anyway. He’s all tight ‘n’ pally with his bro now and I’m just in the way.”

 

“Not what it looked like when he just stormed off the ORCA just now.”

 

Jesse paused, hope in his eyes,

 

“He… he did?” He clapped his hat to his head and hurried out of the control room.

 

“I was going to call base,” Reyes said to Ana once the room was quieter, “mind if I make a private call?”

 

“Going to call Jack, you mean.” Ana looked at him suspiciously.

 

“When last I checked he was in charge there, so – uh – yes, I guess.”

 

“You can take that smarmy tone, Gabriel, but I can still see right through you. Don’t worry, I think it’s about time you and he smoothed things out.”

 

Reyes’ face went from cool and sarcastic to blushing dark in seconds.

 

“Shut up,” he said without venom, “you leaving or what?”

 

“By all means.” Ana hit the holo-map off and collected her things up with her, “I don’t want to hear all the dirty talk.”

 

“It’s a mission update, Ana,” he called after her.

 

“Uh huh. Uh huh, sure, Gabriel.”

 

Gabriel locked the door behind her and dimmed the lights in the room. He hit the call button and brought the channel into privacy mode, sound only visible to him. He pulled up the visual, but kept it small, not blown up on the big screen. He moved the hologram so that it hovered above the chair next to him, about level for where a face might be were someone sitting beside him.

 

“Gabe? Everything OK? Is someone injured?”

 

Gabriel’s heart sunk a little. He really had let the last ten years run away. Jack could only ever think emergency when he got a call from him. Gone were the days when they’d call each other from across a desert they were encircling, voices hushed under thin canvas tents and pale, wan stars, with a cold sandy breeze skittering dust into their blankets. He’d call just to hear Jack’s voice, or even his breathing if speaking was too risky.

 

“Everything’s fine. No one injured. Not significantly anyway. Genji took a round to his shoulder, but then he _was_ being an idiot.”

 

“Oh…” There was a pause where Jack no doubt tried to work out the nature of this call. Gabriel took the moment to look at him. His disembodied head was floating at eye level, a comfortable distance away, but not too far. It looked almost as though Jack were there in the room with him. The hologram had captured the soft corn gold of his hair, and the mellow, apprehensive blue of his eyes, it hadn’t quite managed to replicate the glow in Jack’s skin though, the kind of sun-kissed warmth that freckled or blushed easily. “So, is this a mission report, or…?”

 

Gabriel had been intending to claim it was, but that involved actually reporting, and he really couldn’t be bothered with that.

 

“Just a chat.”

 

There was that blush. The hologram at least managed to get that right.

 

Jack’s voice lost lots of it’s briskness, and some of the gravity dropped out the bottom of it.

 

“Um… I’ll just- Wait a moment.” He vanished from the hologram. There was a sound off screen, then Jack returned.

 

“Shutting the door, Morrison? Just how saucy do you think this chat’s going to get?”

 

Jack blushed a proper red now,

 

“Never can tell with you,” he mumbled, “last thing I need is someone like Torbjörn or Reinhardt coming in as you say something highly inappropriate.”

 

“Me? Inappropriate?” Gabriel sounded mock injured, “never happened, I’m sure. Anyway, how did your meeting go?”

 

“My… my meeting?”

 

“The one you managed to get yourself all worked up about?”

 

“I know which meeting, I just didn’t think you’d…”

 

 _Remember. Or think about anyone other than yourself._ Gabriel filled in the rest of that sentence in his head. Yeah, he really should have made more of an effort.

 

“Well, I’m asking, ain’t I?”

 

Jack glanced away, as if the admission was difficult.

 

“It didn’t go great. But I at least got some sleep, and wasn’t so nervous about it.”

 

Gabriel frowned,

 

“This the meeting with the UK government officials?”

 

Jack nodded glumly,

 

“It was mostly someone from Westminster arguing with someone from Holyrood, because the Scottish government were pleased with the tip we gave them, but that inevitably meant the UK government were angry about it. They kept talking about a breach of national sovereignty.”

 

“How can it be a breach of national sovereignty if the Scottish government were fine with it?”

 

“Ergh. Don’t get me started. Something about military matters not being devolved so it’s Westminster’s choice not… you don’t want to hear this, it’s boring as hell. And the UN came down on the side of the UK.”

 

“You tell them next time you’d just keep your tips about rogue Titans to yourself?”

 

“Basically, yeah. But they were still all sketchy about it.” Jack paused, “anyway, I didn’t want to talk to you about this. I actually think you did the right thing. If we’d waited for UN approval it would have been another six months before we confirmed the sighting. Experts on the site said the terrorist cell were a week or so away from getting that Titan fully mobile. It could have blown up half of Glasgow by the time the paperwork was filled out.”

 

“Jackie!” Gabriel mock scolded, “you like breaking the rules now? I knew I could bring you round.”

 

“Yeah, what can I say, you’re a persuasive kind of guy.”

 

Reyes laughed at that and felt his pulse beat a little faster,

 

“Well, I’m glad you at least got some rest beforehand. You beat yourself too much over all this bureaucratic stuff. It ain’t worth losing sleep over.”

 

“What did you say to me last time, anyway. What was all that Spanish?”

 

“Spend a while trying to figure it out?” Gabriel teased.

 

“No,” Jack said quickly.

 

Gabriel laughed. Then he leaned closer to the hologram, dark eyes glittering,

 

“Do you really want to know what I said, Jackie?” His voice was low. He could immediately see Jack was flustered.

 

“No. Yes… No.”

 

“Which is it, Jackie?”

 

Jack blushed again,

 

“Was it rude?”

 

“Most definitely.”

 

“Dirty?”

 

“Uh huh,” Gabriel sat back.

 

“So…” There was a step back in Jack’s tone of voice. It stirred up something uncomfortable in Gabriel. He found it easier just to let things roll and be, rather than analysing what was going on. “So is that a thing that’s happening now?” Jack sounded wary, careful, anxious. Like he didn’t want to be hurt again.

 

Gabriel shrugged, trying to make light of it while his heart hammered with regrets,

 

“Is what a thing?”

 

“You… saying… things to me. Like… um… intimate things.” Jack was one of the most charismatic people Gabriel knew, he always found it amusing when talking about emotions reduced Jack to the mental age of about eleven.

 

“I guess,” Gabriel replied.

 

“So…” Jack twisted a strand of hair near the nape of his neck between his fingers, like he always did when contemplating a problem of magnitude. Gabriel propped his chin up in his hand and watched, eyes lingering on the curl that was twisting round and round in Jack’s nervous fingers. “So… shall we do this properly or something? Because that might be the um – healthy way to sort out – um… whatever this is.” There was quiet. Gabriel was content to keep watching Jack, his eyes had gone contemplative and liquid, captivated by the man before him. “Gabe,” Jack found his resolve, and set Gabriel with his startling blue eyes, “do you want to go on a date with me when you get back?”

 

Gabriel blinked out of his reverie. That question hit him hard in the gut with the full weight of nostalgia behind it. It kicked up dust and memories and uncertainties that had long settled in the clutter of Gabriel’s mind. Jack saw the change on his features, and a panic jumped into his face.

 

“You don’t have to, of course,” Jack added, “I only thought you might-…” Jack trailed off, the seeds of terror were in his face at the prospect of rejection.

 

“Jack,” Gabriel started, he had to talk quickly to keep Jack from going through stages of mortification, “It’s not that I don’t… it’s just-”

 

“Absolutely. One hundred percent okay. It was very inappropriate of me to ask even, we’re both senior officers after all.” Jack had gone into full media spokesperson mode to cover up his tracks. It hurt Gabriel so much to see that he blurted out suddenly,

 

“You can do better.”

 

Jack paused. He frowned, trying to compute that.

 

“What? What do you mean?”

 

“You can do better than me,” Gabriel said swiftly. “You’re kind, you care, people around you want to be with you and be like you. I’m a mess of unpleasant things, and I’ll probably only end up hurting you again. So. That’s what I mean. You can do better,” Gabriel finished lamely.

 

“But, Gabe, there isn’t anyone better than you.”

 

Gabriel sat there for a moment. Warm sunlight filled the ORCA cockpit and fine dust motes drifted lazily. Gabriel took a few seconds, then wiped the back of his hand roughly over his eyes.

 

“ _E_ _stúpido._ ”

 

“Gabe, I’m being serious.”

 

“I know you are,” Gabriel muttered, still trying to pull himself together, “You’re always serious, Morrison.” His voice was all undertone and directed nowhere in particular.

 

“You know I’ve been in love with you since I was nineteen, right?”

 

“Oh God, I forgot how embarrassing you are,” Gabriel’s voice was still barely about a murmur and he had to keep wiping fresh wet from his eyes.

 

“So, stop with all this nonsense, okay? If we’re going to try and make this work again, there’s got to be lots more honesty. So, here’s my first attempt: Gabriel Reyes-”

 

“Fuck.”

 

“Gabriel Reyes,” Jack continued, more firmly, “I love you.”

 

“Fuck,” Gabriel said again.

 

“Is… is that a good fuck or a-”

 

“Yes, it’s a good fuck,” Reyes said, still blinking rapidly.

 

“Okay, good,” Jack was being the coherent one for them both. “Well. It’s a date then.”

 

Gabriel had covered his eyes with a hand.

 

“Hope this call is on private, by the way,” Jack grinned cheekily.

 

“Course its on private,” Gabriel growled from behind his hand.

 

“Anything else you want to say, or…?”

 

“I’ve had enough of you. I need to go and process all your soppy shit.”

 

“Yeah, get a handkerchief while you’re at it.”

 

“Fuck you, Morrison.”

 

“Next time, maybe,” Jack blew a kiss and signed off.

 

Gabriel expelled a huff of air sat back in his chair. That had not gone the way he expected. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but not that. He took a shuddering breath, still reeling from Jack’s words. He sniffed slightly.

 

There was a rap on the door,

 

“You done, Gabriel?” Ana’s voice sifted through, “Ray was going to take the ORCA to a new location.”

 

“I’m not coming out ever, so you better learn to fly from some other room.”

 

“Uh huh,” Ana’s patient sceptical voice was loud and clear, “in your own time then.”

 

***

 

Hanzo found Genji sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the skyscraper. Just seeing Genji so close to the edge made his heart race.

 

“I spoke with your friend,” Hanzo tried to ignore how uncomfortable Genji’s current position made him feel.

 

Genji said nothing.

 

“I accepted his apology,” Hanzo continued. Still nothing. “You telling me to be an adult is a new one. Still a bit rich, however.” Genji looked at him. Hanzo felt a little relief. “For the record, I am glad you’re alive and I _have_ been treating you like my brother. I have been trying very hard, in fact, to do a better job of it than last time. I’m not in the habit of spelling things out so clearly, but as apparently I wasn’t doing a good enough job and was too subtle about the matter, I-”

 

“I know you’ve been trying.”

 

Hanzo’s brow twitched in irritation.

 

“Then what? You wish to humiliate me?”

 

“Is it humiliating to say such things aloud? To say you’re glad I’m alive? Some things need saying out loud, Hanzo. I know you of all people have a problem with that, but-”

 

“I didn’t come here to argue with you,” Hanzo snapped.

 

“Right,” Genji huffed, then sarcastically, “my mistake.” He kicked his legs into the air.

 

“Would you not do that!?” Hanzo’s voice was still sharp and cold, “it’s a twelve storey drop to the floor.”

 

The anger in Genji’s face subsided and he shook his head in resignation. He swivelled round, bringing his legs back from over the edge. He overbalanced and flailed for a moment, Hanzo leapt forward and grabbed his arm. Genji gave him an evil grin.

 

“Idiot!” Hanzo snarled, “don’t even play games like that!”

 

“Would make things easier for you, wouldn’t it?” Genji said lazily, aware of the immediate hurt in his brother’s eyes. “You could go back to justifiably hating yourself, and idolise some dead version of me that’s not half as annoying as live me.”

 

“It would break me to see you die again.”

 

It was said so plainly and honestly that it shook Genji. He didn’t let that show however.

 

“If this isn’t broken Hanzo, then I don’t want to know how much worse it gets.”

 

Hanzo turned away, he was hiding less of his pain than a few days ago. Genji was glad. He needed to share these things. He needed to know he wasn’t the only one in pain. He needed to see all these things Hanzo kept insisting on hiding. He needed them in order for this to be something he could live with. And come back from.

 

“Does it make it better, knowing that your words pain me?”

 

“Yes,” Genji said simply. “It means this is real for you. Like the way it is for me. It means you’re a person I can start to understand again, and not just a shadow from my nightmares.”

 

The afternoon was clear and fresh and littered with light birdsong and the fragrance of hovering blossom. Hanzo fixed his eyes on the place where Hanamura would be, were it not obscured by highrises.

 

“I dreamed of you every night: dying in Shimada Castle. Even saw you during the day too. That’s what the alcohol was for.”

 

“I know,” Genji said. He hadn’t known, but he had at least guessed. Hanzo had never been this hard and fast with sake before the incident.

 

“Even when I killed all the people who talked me into it, it didn’t make me feel any better.”

 

“Every person I killed for Blackwatch was you. I’d imagine you as I cut them down.”

 

Hanzo glanced at Genji. Then he looked back out at the city again.

 

“Why haven’t you killed me then?”

 

“Living is harder,” Genji said bitterly.

 

“That it is,” Hanzo agreed.

 

They kept silence for a while. It felt easier. Not pleasant, but better. More raw and true.

 

“Come with me to hunt down Akemi,” Hanzo said.

 

“The Commander wants it to be a group operation. Scout his place out and ensure he doesn’t have armed back up.”

 

“And who’s in charge of this mission?”

 

“You, from the look of things.”

 

Hanzo chuckled. It felt like a long time since Genji had heard him laugh.

 

“I’m glad you spoke with McCree. He’s a good friend. He’s been a lifeline for these last few months. They all have. All those people in there.” Genji gestured vaguely at the dropship, “and Doctor Ziegler.”

 

Hanzo nodded,

 

“I know. I was trying to get on with them for you, but it only seemed to make you more angry.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“On the flight over?”

 

“Oh.” Hanzo had noticed that then. That was embarrassing.

 

Hanzo’s eyebrows raised,

 

“I do actually have to read people in order to be a successful businessman, Genji. You can stop being surprised every time I noticed your emotions.”

 

“Buisinessman! Hah! Interesting word for it. And I kind of always assumed you ignored me.”

 

“Ah. Explains the flamboyant outfits and morals.”

 

“Because sex, drugs, and neosynthwave are flamboyant morals, whilst cold blooded murder and torture are totally respectable.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

They exchanged an amused look.

 

“Our family was a mess,” Genji sighed.

 

“ _Is_ a mess,” Hanzo corrected. “Well, you are at least. I’m doing fine.”

 

Genji actually laughed out loud at that. He looked at his brother.

 

“I’ll come interrogate Akemi with you. But I’m going to inform the commander first. He won’t mind, but he deserves to know.”

 

Hanzo nodded. He looked out again at the city, with its strange mix of ancient and new architecture. He felt lighter for the first time in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was writing that first scene as a funny McCree scene but then some nihilist anarcho-punk started playing and it got pretty dark pretty quick sorry. And then I was gonna have Gabe ring and ask about Jack's meeting and things just escalated and surprised me n Gabe both. So I guess that's a thing that's happening now. This chapter was meant to be about following up their next lead but then everyone had a dramatic meltdown. Here ya go, may update the next chapter earlyish next week as this one was shortish :)


	23. Deception and Lies

Genji was walking with Hanzo up to the front of Akemi’s residence. He’d wanted to approach more cautiously, perhaps sneaking in via a back window in full mask and stealth suit. Hanzo had laughed him off. A Shimada always entered with pride when it came to matters related to family. Akemi might be a traitor, but he was still a member of the Shimada Clan.

 

“Besides,” Hanzo hissed into his ear, “I want to see him squirm when he opens the door to us.”

 

“Yeah, sadistic much?” Genji grumbled.

 

Hanzo gave him a malicious smile. Since their conversation earlier, years seemed to have come off Hanzo. He was conspiratorial and more open in his insults and delights. He stayed close to Genji, and seemed tired of trying to present a respectable front to the rest of the team, even going so far as to be outright rude, scorning the commander’s suggestion that he wear an earpiece. Genji had had to politely apologise on his behalf, and assure Reyes that he’d have his comm on at all times.

 

Genji was reminded of the Hanzo from his youth: arrogant, stubborn, honest to the point where he was unafraid to share his abrasive opinion. It was a far cry from the polite, tapered facade that he’d cultivated later on. Whilst Genji was pleased with this more open approach, he could see the barely concealed impatience on everyone else’s faces. Having to go round smoothing the frowns and outrage left in Hanzo’s wake was definitely a new experience for Genji.

 

“Would it kill you to be a little more courteous to the commander and the captain and McCree?”

 

“I thought you liked me being more honest?”

 

“I… I do. But you don’t have to go round acting like you don’t like anyone…”

 

“But I don’t like anyone,” Hanzo returned mildly, “or would you rather I keep pretending I did?”

 

Genji’s face fell,

 

“You don’t like _any_ of them? Not even Captain Amari? I thought you got on with her.”

 

“She’s the most bearable of them,” Hanzo conceded, “but she tried to stick a needle in my arm, and now I’ve decided she’s rude and invasive.”

 

“Hanzo, that was a vaccine. She’s got these special darts, and if you’re immune to the toxins, they just give you a mild sedative and adrenaline boost, but if you’ve not experienced it before, it can be pretty deadly.”

 

“So she tried to poison me,” Hanzo said.

 

“No! Well, yes, but just once, for your own good, so that she can help you next time.”

 

“I hardly think being shot with a sniper rifle full of sedatives qualifies as help, Genji. With _your_ past I’d hardly expect anything different, but _I_ have no intention of dulling my senses on or off the field. Captain Amari is clearly adept at chemical warfare and she can keep such wars well away from me.”

 

Genji sighed,

 

“Well, what’s wrong with the commander?”

 

“What’s right with the commander,” Hanzo retorted.

 

Genji’s eyes flashed in anger,

 

“The commander is efficient and a good leader, I would have thought you’d respect that.”

 

“ _Please_ ,” Hanzo said with derision, “he’s an ex-military bully with no finesse at all. He’s the sort of man who thinks he can use a shotgun to answer nintey-percent of the world’s problems.”

 

Genji raised his eyebrows. His comms were on, and he was very glad he’d decided to have this conversation in Japanese.

 

“And don’t even get me started on that cowboy.”

 

“Jesse McCree is a good man, but I wasn’t expecting to hear anything good from you about him, so there’s no need t-”

 

“Can any one single human being alive be more frustrating than that man? Zero manners! Zero culture! Zero appreciation for the higher tastes being introduced to him-”

 

“Hanzo-”

 

“And his _dress_ sense! And that revolver! Six bullets. Six bullets and you can’t even put a silencer on a revolver! Does he treat every mission like it’s a wild west showdown?!”

 

“Okay, calm down. He’s actually a really good shot and-”

 

“Remind me to invite him along when I want a loud weapon with limited ammunition fired by an absolute buffoon who belongs in a cosplay convention.”

 

“Hanzo-… hey wait, you know what cosplaying is?”

 

“ _Please_ , _”_ Hanzo said with that same derisive tone, “do you know how many of those damn things I’ve had to trawl through in order to drag you home. And don’t think for a second I don’t know about that Kamen Rider outfit you kept in your cupboard.”

 

Genji opened and shut his mouth a few times. He gave up on protesting and shrugged,

 

“I got to pretend to be a villain from the show last week in order to scare one of the commander’s detainees.” Was that really only last week? It felt impossibly long ago that he hadn’t had this. Hanzo. Talking to him. Letting him be close. Being bitter at the world and letting only Genji through his armour. It made him feel a little giddy.

 

“Hmph!” Hanzo gave him a look of disdain. His eyes warmed after a moment though, “of course you did. The professionalism of a five-year-old.”

 

“Hey, the guy confessed, so I must have been intimidating!”

 

“Intimidating! You!” Hanzo scoffed, “what did you do, threaten to show him up in a dance off?”

 

“Nope, but that’s a good one. Can definitely show _you_ up in a dance off.” Genji stretched out his arms and let a wave ripple from one finger tip through to the other. He did a quick step with his feet.

 

“Don’t you _dare,_ ” Hanzo hissed, eyes darting toward the house they were approaching.

 

“ _Touché_ , Kumichō. Going to let yourself be outdone by a man who had to relearn how to walk eight months ago?”

 

Hanzo hesitated.  He paused on the street, pain ghosting over his face. Genji took the opportunity to moonwalk across his brother’s path. The pain faded to be replaced by familiar irritation.

 

“You’re impossible,” Hanzo muttered, still a little shaken by the reminder of his crime.

 

“I guarantee _I’m_ not the brother everyone back on the drop-ship is calling impossible right now.”

 

“Are you going to stop acting the fool so that I can knock on Akemi’s door and actually get this business over with?”

 

Genji tilted his head, eyes still cheeky, but he held his peace whilst Hanzo rapped his knuckles against the door.

 

The house was an inconspicuous bungalow, built in the last hundred years but favouring some of the designs from a few centuries earlier. Neat square windows looked into a fully equipped kitchen on their left, but to their right were sliding paper walls over sliding full length glass. Genji had noted a jumbled garage set back from the road that looked like it might  feed into the back  of the house. He nodded to it,

 

“Want me to go check that out?”

 

“And deprive Akemi of a cowardly exit should he wish to run from me?” Hanzo asked mildly.

 

Genji frowned in confusion.

 

Hanzo turned slightly and whispered in Genji’s ear with a little of that cruel enthusiasm from earlier,

 

“Let him try and run if that is what he wishes.”

 

Genji mimicked the action and whispered back in Hanzo’s ear,

 

“Stop being creepy.”

 

Hanzo frowned at him. The expression cleared as the door was opened.

 

Akemi was a handsome but nondescript man in his late thirties, with well-kept charcoal black hair and a suit to match. He bowed to Hanzo, then to Genji.

 

“Kumichō, Master Genji. Welcome. I have been expecting you.”

 

Genji was immediately taken aback, but Hanzo was as quick and courteous as ever.

 

“Excellent. So good to see you in good health, Akemi.”

 

“Please,” Akemi invited them over the threshold, then gestured to a traditional dining room on their right. Hanzo removed his steel greaves and stepped onto the tatami, seating himself on a legless straight backed chair at a low table. Genji glanced guiltily at his irremovable feet before moving to sit near Hanzo.

 

“Can I get you any refreshments, tea perhaps?” Akemi stood in the doorway.

 

“Sake. Hanamura sake, if you please. Nothing for my brother.”

 

Akemi bowed.

 

“Sake? Really?” Genji said out the corner of his mouth, “we’re meant to be working.”

 

“Trust me, if you want me working, you want me drinking sake.”

 

Genji blinked in surprise at the honesty. He couldn’t exactly fail to noticed that Hanzo drank steadily through every day, but it came as a surprise to hear his brother admit his  dependence so openly to him.

 

Akemi returned and knelt at the table, setting a glass bottle and small cup before Hanzo. A quiet fell upon them. Hanzo poured himself a glass of the clear liquid. He lifted it to his lips. A metal hand moved across his vision and plucked the cup from his grasp. Hanzo’s face ticked to irritation as he glanced at Genji. Genji brought the cup to his mask and sniffed. His nose still worked well, and he knew Hanamura sake well enough to smell if it had been tampered with. His eyes narrowed at Akemi, but he passed the cup back to his brother. Hanzo took it, still looking moody, and downed it.

 

“If it was my intention to cause our master harm, I would not choose poison to do it, Master Genji.” Akemi had always had a calm collected demeanour to him. He’d never held particularly high rank in the clan, which could explain his escape from Hanzo’s purge so far, but he was capable, and had always overseen the tasks given to him with efficiency. Genji had never liked him.

 

“Might you do it by arming an omnic resistance group?” Genji snapped, unable to continue this farce of nicety Akemi and his brother were partaking in.

 

Hanzo frowned.

 

Akemi merely tilted his head,

 

“Just business. Nothing personal.” His grey eyes turned to Hanzo, “though the rest of Akita has yet to see it, you made it abundantly clear that you had abandoned your clan, Kumichō. As I see it, I am not the traitor here. You have killed so many of us, and yet would begrudge us selling what little is left?”

 

“Killed?” Hanzo asked, sounding injured. Genji rolled his eyes. “If you truly think such a ghastly thing of me, Akemi,” Hanzo leaned forward slightly, his voice turning nasty, “then why don’t you prove it.”

 

“You are a master of stealth and subterfuge,” Akemi murmured, looking troubled for the first time in the exchange, “I could never hope to prove such a thing, not to the police and not to the Oyabun. But it is true nonetheless. You were a man of honour once, Kumichō,” – that made Hanzo’s face twitch involuntarily – “if that man exists still, tell me, exactly what should I be doing? How is one loyal to a master who’s only interest is in executing anyone of competence?”

 

Hanzo was quiet.

 

Genji rolled his eyes again. This was exactly the sort of nonsense that would get Hanzo all introspective and thoughtful. He shifted slightly in his seat, about to speak. Hanzo silenced him with a hand before he’d even made a noise. It infuriated him that Hanzo knew all the tells telegraphing Genji’s next move.

 

“You raise a valid point,” Hanzo poured himself a second glass of sake, “and as such, if you answer my questions truthfully, I will let you live, and you have my leave to go do whatever you wish with your life, provided it doesn’t involve selling off any more assets from my estate.”

 

Genji watched the man’s chest rise and fall as he listened to that proposal. There was a quickening of a heartbeat and a drop of sweat beaded on the man’s brow. If that was anything to go by, this wasn’t going to go as easily as it had so far.

 

“Senichi and Utano?” Akemi asked after a long, weighty pause.

 

Genji glanced away. Hanzo gave a thin smile.

 

“They were only doing what they were told,” Akemi was stiff.

 

“The worst crimes are always committed under orders,” Hanzo snapped back. It wasn’t really appropriate given that Senichi and Utano had merely been lifting boxes, but no one present was under any illusions about who that remark really referred to.

 

“Master Sasaki informed me that you would be looking for me,” Akemi wisely left that line of the conversation, “he intimated that it was the omnic parts in particular that you were after.”

 

Hanzo nodded and gestured for Akemi to continue. Akemi hesitated. Genji hoped he wouldn’t hold out on them, he hated having to get his hands dirty when the other party was being so courteous. It made him feel like the bad guy.

 

“I sold omnic parts to a number of different buyers in order not to arouse suspicion. But the contracts have all already been agreed. They are all going to the… interested party that I believe Master Genji already had a run in with.”

 

“Null Sector,” Genji supplied.

 

Akemi nodded carefully.

 

“And where are this Null Sector?” Hanzo pressed.

 

A small sad smile flicked onto Akemi’s face,

 

“I’m afraid I can’t divulge that, Kumichō.”

 

“You’re more loyal to them than to me?” Hanzo asked.

 

“We’ve already discussed the fate of the Shimada, Kumichō. I am not sure anyone in the clan owes you any loyalty any more.”

 

“Watch your tongue,” Genji growled.

 

Hanzo raised a hand and silence d him again.

 

“As you wish, Akemi. But as I said before, I will need your whole co-operation in this matter, or it will not end well for you.”

 

“Null Sector are not a group one readily betrays,” Akemi said evenly, but Genji could see the man’s pulse thumping hard in his neck.

 

“Challenge accepted,” Hanzo replied softly, making the hairs both on the back of Genji and Akemi’s arms stand up on edge.

 

“Kumichō, I have told you what I easily can.” There was a slight tinge of desperation in that collected voice now.

 

“Why would you defend them?” Genji interrupted, “they are a terrorist group, intent on obliterating humans and committed to the superiority of their own people!”

 

Hanzo gave him a tired look.

 

Akemi acquiesced however,

 

“They’re just people, Master Genji. They have their cause as everyone does. I do not care for the specifics. They have power though. The power to create wealth and act on threats. That is very familiar to me. As it is to all the Shimada,” he let that linger a moment, before moving on, “besides, a group asking for better treatment at the hand of humans, it surprises me that this is something you would find so reprehensible,… Master Genji.” That insinuation lay on thick.

 

What little of Genji’s face was visible heated up at that remark.

 

“Omnic equality is not the same as omnic superiority! The Null Trooper I spoke with was clearly batshit-”

 

“Enough,” Hanzo broke in, and the room went silent. “It is irrelevant what the motivations of this group are. I wish to know their location, and you _will_ tell me, Akemi. I do not care how we go about this, but one way or another I will get what I want.”

 

G enji shifted uncomfortably, knowing Hanzo could see the movement.  There was that other problem too, the problem of the open comm line. Whilst he was fairly sure the commander wouldn’t be too bothered if this was the only course of action left to them, Genji wasn’t entirely sure if the captain was listening or not, and things were definitely going to get a lot more vocal, the way this looked like it was going.  He was fairly sure the captain knew some of the more unsavoury ways that Blackwatch operated, but Genji did not want to be the one to test that theory.

 

Genji shifted again, this time indicating he wished to speak more privately. Hanzo drew his eyes away from Akemi, and tilted his head Genji’s way, giving him his ear.

 

“May I be excused for a moment?”

 

Hanzo’s expression soured, no doubt thinking Genji was going to leave all the interrogating to him. He gave a curt nod however.

 

Genji stepped out the front door, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air that didn’t reach his lung until a while later,  spiralling through the vents and tubes,  passing through his artificial lung before entering his more delicate remaining, organic one.

 

“Commander?” Genji tapped his visor out of habit. His eyes flicked to the timestamp in the corner of his vision.

 

_1_ _8_ _:_ _34_ _|_ _Download at_ _62.16_ _%_

 

“Genji,” the response came in his head a beat later.

 

“The connection is a little shaky, I might cut out soon.”

 

There was silence. Genji wondered if the commander would pick up on the  subtlety. He was on comms for every single one of Genji’s missions, and signal with cyborg was never an issue, not within a few kilometers, or even a continent or two. Not everyone else knew that though.

 

“Right,” Reyes said, in his voice for covering up lies, “I’ll have Jesse stay on comms in case we can still catch your audio. Captain Amari and I have business to get on with anyway. We’ve wasted enough time as it is listening to a three way conversation in a language none of us know. Keep on the line.”

 

That last part was the order. That was Reyes telling him he wanted ears on everything. Jesse would have that pleasure whilst Reyes engaged in a little creative manoeuvring.

 

“Yes, sir.” Genji closed his eyes and this time drew in a breath through his nose. The smell of cherry blossoms hit him and soft waves of nostalgia rolled over him. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. He let his shoulders sink slightly and turned back to the house.

 

“Captain,” Reyes gestured, allowing Ana to walk down the ramp before him.

 

“You’re being unusually charming, Gabriel,” Ana gave him a gentle smile that turned incisive the moment he reciprocated it, “what are you hiding.”

 

Gabriel’s features stiffened. Exactly why had he brought Ana instead of Moira again?

 

“You wound me,” he gestured to his chest, “can’t I want a heartfelt chat on the balcony of a skyscraper with an old friend?”

 

Ana rolled her eyes,

 

“No, you don’t. Especially not in the middle of the mission. It’s completely out of character. Tell me what’s going on or I’ll assume you’re hiding something on that comm you don’t want me to hear.”

 

_Fuck._ He really was going to have to give her something.

 

“Come get a drink with me,” he said, suddenly more stiff and cagey. She frowned slightly at the change. “Come get a drink or I’m telling you nothing.”

 

Her eyes widened slightly, as if with knowing, and she nodded. Gabriel swore sometimes she was a mindreader. It was impossible to hide anything from Ana. If you really wanted to hide a truth, you had to drown it out with an even bigger one.

 

Not long later, they were sitting in bar sipping Japanese beer.

 

“Not bad,” Reyes gave raising his bottle, “ _F_ _a sihtk!_ _”_

 

“ _¡Salud!_ ” Ana clinked beer bottles and drank. She let out a long sigh after she set her bottle down.

 

“It’s been a while,” Reyes said. Ana glanced up. “This,” he gestured between them.

 

“Mm,” she agreed, “you’re a hard man to get on with these days, Gabriel.”

 

A tick of a frown marked his brow. Ana had never been one for tiptoeing around truths.

 

“Blackwatch keeps me busy,” he said dryly, and they both heard the bitter things insinuated behind that. Overwatch had once kept him busy. Now it didn’t.

 

Ana gave him a half-hooded look,

 

“Gabriel is been over fifteen years. If you’re expecting any kind of sympathy-”

 

“Then I wouldn’t look for it from you,” he said coolly, “don’t worry I know you’re firmly behind Jack on this one.”

 

He hadn’t even intended to bring this up. Jack would be upset with him if he heard he was at this again. Gabriel breathed through his teeth, he needed to get a lid on his temper if he wanted things to change for the better. There was an irritating noise from near his elbow – something he could only describe as a titter. Two young women were draped over the bar, sucking lurid coloured cocktails through striped straws.

 

“Seems you two aren’t getting on too well,” one of the young women spoke to him in heavily accented English. She nodded her head towards Ana, who’s eyebrows skyrocketed, “want some better company for the evening?” They slunk closer to him. They were easily half his age. It irritated him that this was something that didn’t seem to go away even with advancing years. People were always telling him he had a most disagreeable personality, he wasn’t sure why that never came across to complete strangers in bars. Today he wasn’t in the mood to be polite.

 

“Fuck off, I’m gay.”

 

He turned back round to Ana, who’s eyebrows managed to climb even higher into her military issue beret.

 

“Short and to the point,” Ana winced, with a full view of the shock and rejection happening behind Gabriel.

 

“It’s less complicated than saying I’m taken.”

 

Ana was watching the women pick up their cocktails and move to a corner table. It took a few moments for what Gabriel had said to register.

 

“I – you what?”

 

Gabriel took a deliberate sip of his beer, avoiding her eyes.

 

“Gabriel!” she said in the exact tone of voice his own mother used to use on him, “you didn’t…”

 

“It was his idea!” Gabriel protested.

 

“But you know he…” she sighed and rubbed her forehead, “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he growled, “anyway, you knew this was… a thing that was…” he waved his hand ineloquently, “… in the works,” he finished lamely.

 

“I thought your _friendship_ was in the works, Gabriel. And I’m aware that you can’t seem to fix it without a certain flirtatious angle-” Gabriel glowered at her as she said this but she waved him down so that she could continue, “but I was _hoping_ you could save a good friendship. I wasn’t expecting you to start _dating._ ”

 

“Well, too bad.” He tried not to let his annoyance show. He’d been hoping Ana would be happy for them.

 

“Look, it’s not that I think it’s a _bad_ idea. The two of you clearly never got over each other-” Another glower from Gabriel, but Ana ignored it, “it’s just the timing that concerns me. You seem to have skipped over the part where the two of you are on friendly terms for a bit in between.”

 

“It’s not like I’m immediately going to jump into bed with him, Ana,” he was pleased to see she looked embarrassed to be talking about that, “and besides, we’ve been getting along just fine for the last few weeks.”

 

“Sure,” she said dryly, “a fortnight without going for each other’s throats warrants ringing the wedding bells.”

 

Gabriel looked hurt for a moment, but he covered it up with coldness.

 

“I wasn’t asking your permission. I was telling you. Under the mistaken guise that I was sharing a drink with a friend. Guess you’re bad company after all,” he set his drink down with an air of finality.

 

“Gabriel,” Ana said more gently. Gabriel turned to her, a fraction of hope in his eyes, “be careful.”

 

He looked suddenly uncertain. He scratched his beard. The reservations he’d voiced to Jack about moving in this direction surfaced in his thoughts. He wasn’t good enough. That was what Ana seemed to be confirming loud and clear.

 

Ana’s features softened further at the doubt in Gabriel’s brow.

 

“Nothing would make me happier than for my two best friends to be together again. Believe me when I say I want that as much as anyone, Gabriel. You two make each other so happy. But you also know how to hurt each other. Extremely well. I don’t want to see you both broken again.”

 

“No one wants that,” Gabriel muttered.

 

Ana gave him a  warm smile,

 

“Then here’s to better than the first time.” She raised her bottle.

 

Gabriel took a little strength from  her smile .  He sighed deeply, clinked bottles, and took another drink.

 

There was a crackle in his earpiece.

 

“Boss?” Jesse’s voice came over the comm.

 

He signed  _one moment_ to Ana. She nodded and Reyes stepped outside.

 

“Talk.”

 

“Got a location on the omnic compound.” Jesse’s voice sounded small. Like it often did when he was accomplice to Blackwatch methods of information retrieval.

 

“Messy?” Reyes glanced up and down the street. It milled vaguely with people strolling leisurely in the early evening. They’d hear nothing incriminating though. He heard Jesse swallow.

 

“Sounded like it.”

 

“When there’s a moment that doesn’t throw their position, find out if they need clean up. I imagine they won’t as it’s family business, but… eh doesn’t help to offer our services, eh, Kid?”

 

He could practically feel Jesse wincing at the lighthearted jibe. Sometimes Reyes wondered if he’d done the right thing in bringing Jesse on board. He’d been certain he was hiring a kid who was a hardened criminal, and had taken a personal interesting in shaping the remainder of Jesse’s education. He was a good student, but Reyes was always surprised by how much heart he had after all they’d done together for Blackwatch.

 

“I’ll ask them, Boss,” Jesse said quietly.

 

Genji seemed to have less reservations, but then he was much less stable than the dependable Jesse McCree. Reyes was having a hard time pinning a pattern to the way Genji was acting around his brother. He’d given the cyborg a chance for reconciliation and a chance for revenge. Genji had somehow chosen neither and now seemed to flit at random between the two. Reyes shrugged, he had to admit his behaviour towards Jack had shared some similarity with that over the last decade or so.

 

“Genji ok?”

 

“Think so, Boss.” Jesse sounded more tense with every additional sentence he had to report on this matter. Reyes didn’t miss the subdued tone and careful deference in Jesse’s voice. “Doing his fair share, if that’s what you mean,” Jesse sounded positively miserable.

 

Reyes took pity on him,

 

“Good work. I’ll be back up there soon. Keep your head up, Kid.” He terminated the call.

 

“All good?” Ana asked as he walked back in.

 

“Yep. Might have a location for the missing stash,” the whole bar didn’t need to know he was hunting omnics.

 

Ana slipped her arm into his and gave him a genuine smile,

 

“I _am_ glad for you and Jack, I hope you know that,” she said seriously as they walked out of the bar.

 

Reyes felt a twinge of guilt at keeping the finer details of this mission from her. And using his friendship with her and Jack as a way to  put a  shroud over the whole matter.

 

“Yeah, I know,” he said a little heavily.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They cheers in each other's languages because even though they spend all the time pulling faces at each other Ana and Gabe are good friends deep down. Or they used to be at least. See, my angst has a fluff lining.
> 
> I have a new twitter account under the username [@erenaeoth](https://twitter.com/erenaeoth). I'll be posting some art, along with fanfic announcements, and maybe writing tips and possibly even some stuff about my other fiction there.


	24. Learning to Love

Jesse took a deep breath as he rolled his seat away from the comm system and opened the jet ramp for Genji and Hanzo.

 

Flecks of blood spotted Hanzo’s bare tattooed arm and were splashed liberally over Genji’s armour.

 

“Best clean up,” Jesse said, averting his eyes, “the commander and the captain will be back soon.”

 

Hanzo frowned slightly, perhaps unsure of what the problem was. Genji nodded.

 

The washroom was small: a toilet, a sink, and a showerhead set in the ceiling. On the wall was a button where thin laser walls could be flicked on to keep the water from spraying the rest of the room. Genji’s vaguely thought about showering, but couldn’t handle the prospect of his augments itching for the next few hours. He took a rag and dampened it, and set about wiping the metal clean. When he re-entered the living quarters, McCree was gone, and Hanzo had changed into a fine white and gold kimono that bore no trace of his previous engagement.

 

“Blood still on your shoulder.” Hanzo said, having glanced over.

 

“I know. Can’t get it off.”

 

Hanzo let out a heavy sigh and walked over, holding out a hand. Genji passed him the rag. Hanzo gestured to a chair and Genji sat, letting Hanzo try and scrub off the stain.

 

Hanzo spoke after a minute or so had passed,

 

“I wasn’t aware that my approach to this mission was not protocol.”

 

Genji frowned. He hadn’t said anything that might imply that. He could only assume Hanzo was aware of the slightly jarring atmosphere in the jet.

 

“Nothing like that. It’s just the captain isn’t Blackwatch, and she might not approve of how we tend to do things.”

 

Hanzo frowned,

 

“But she is Overwatch. And Blackwatch is a part of Overwatch. Why would she disapprove of the methods used in a wing clearly set up to be Overwatch’s black ops?”

 

Genji shrugged.

 

“Sit still.” Hanzo continued trying to clean off the ionising red-brown splatter on Genji’s shoulder. Genji stilled. Hanzo paused in another long moment of thought, then, “so these are appropriate methods to use, but they are not to be intimated to Captain Amari? Makes it a little difficult to make use of the full resources at our disposal if we must tiptoe around someone we’re supposedly working with.”

 

Genji had done missions before where Overwatch members had been present. One just had to blank them when any more unsavoury orders came through. He’d never really given the matter much thought, being too preoccupied with his own worries and demons to care about what was happening around him.

 

“The commander’s the one to talk to about this. I just do what I’m told.”

 

“I find that hard to believe.”

 

Genji craned his neck to look up at his brother, taking care not to move too much,

 

“I’ve changed a lot since then.”

 

“In some respects. Your distaste for some tasks still hasn’t changed.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“It pains you to hurt others.”

 

“That’s not even remotely true,” Genji snapped.

 

“It wasn’t an insult,” Hanzo said plainly. Then, “why are you here? You wanted to be free of everything the clan asked of you. Why have you placed yourself in almost the exact same position again? You claim you are not their prisoner, then why stay after they fixed you?”

 

Genji’s eyes smouldered,

 

“Blackwatch isn’t the same as the Shimada Clan.”

 

“Aren’t they?”

 

“They’re doing good. Stopping bad things from happening.”

 

“Are they?”

 

Genji stood abruptly. He took the rag from his brother’s hand.

 

“Thank you for your help,” he said coldly. He threw the rag down and stalked into the cockpit. Hanzo watched him go silently.

 

Only McCree was in the cockpit. He was sitting on a chair letting it rotate slowly with him in it.

 

“Isn’t there a pilot who’s meant to be here?” Genji said, a little more harshly than he meant to.

 

“Ray? Yeah, but the boss keeps him well away from mission stuff in case he tattles to Overwatch. There was a call for you by the way.”

 

“For me?” Almost everyone Genji was on speaking terms with was here in Akita.

 

“Uh huh,” McCree reached over and dialled the callback. The call took a little while to connect, but after a while a large image filled the viewscreen. White gold hair and soft blue eyes turned around and smiled into the camera. Genji’s temper faded a little.

 

“D… Doctor Ziegler,” Genji walked forward until he was standing under the holoscreen looking up at her. The clinic lamp was behind her, casting a halo of light about her head. She smiled down and pushed a stray lock behind her ear.

 

“Genji,” she said warmly. Then a frown slipped onto her face, “is that a bullet hole?” She leaned forward, trying to inspect him.

 

Genji glanced down at the angry red hole in his shoulder, starting to scab over.

 

“Um… yeah, but it went clean through, and Captain Amari stuck me full of needles so it should be fine.”

 

Angela scowled,

 

“And on your armour too?”

 

Genji ran his fingers over the dents in his chest plating,

 

“Mostly okay I think. Nothing malfunctioning anyway.”

 

“Strike Commander Morrison said you took a round to your chest.”

 

“Sorta. But I… deflected most of it… with… a sword.”

 

He winced as he looked up at her. She did not look impressed.

 

“I’m not impressed,” she said, just to reiterate the fact.

 

“ _I_ was,” McCree said mildly, bouncing a small basketball he’d found somewhere off the walls of the craft.

 

“And how is your prosthetic, Jesse?” Angela turned her sharp eyes on him, “any more phantom pains?”

 

Jesse blushed. The ball bounced back and hit him on the head while he was distracted.

 

“Uh… no, Doc. All good.” He rubbed his temple and gave an apologetic smile.

 

Angela turned her scrutiny back to Genji.

 

“Is that blood on your shoulder?”

 

Genji glanced at his shoulder. Hanzo had managed to clean most of it off, but there was still a discolouration.

 

“It’s not mine,” he said, then immediately regretted it. Angela’s face changed: it was melancholy, with a touch of helplessness. Genji hurried to change the subject, “was there something in particular I can help you with, Doctor Ziegler, or was it just a check up?”

 

Angela moved on with some reluctance,

 

“Just a check up. But now that we have a chance to speak, I have some news: I’ve spent some time with Moira working on possible alterations to your augmentations. Now, these are just very early prototypes, and with our current technology it would still take a couple of years to finish running tests to ensure it’s safe. But – can you see? It’s a bit difficult to see-…” She turned the camera round to face her desk. It was cluttered with files, half finished cups of tea, a bar of Swiss chocolate, and a sepia toned photograph of Overwatch members from maybe eight years ago. Genji squinted at it.

 

“Is that Ana’s daughter?” he asked, pointing at a small girl in the centre of the photograph.

 

“She was a tiny smidgeon of pigeon,” Jesse cackled.

 

“And is that a beard you’re trying to grow there?”

 

“Hey,” Jesse pouted, “a guy’s gotta start somewhere you know. Oh jeez look at the boss in that, looks he’s gonna murder someone.”

 

“That’s not what I’m trying to show you,” Angela said, trying to point the datapad at her computer screen.”

 

“Doc, you know you can just pull the image from your PC and throw it onto the datapad, right?”

 

“It’s not finished yet!” Angela tried to angle the camera so that the light didn’t bounce off her computer screen, “can you see it, Genji?’’

 

“Uh…” Genji squinted. He could make out a 3-D model, with armour that resembled his own. There was no cut off where his organic parts started however. The design was a fully enclosed suit of armour. He felt cold and swallowed. He gave a slight laugh to cover this up, “planning on cutting off the rest of me and turning me into a full omnic, Doctor?”

 

“Of course not!” Angela sounded upset, “the plating would go over your skin, and remove the need for the external wiring. Do… do you not like it?”

 

“I preferred red.”

 

“Huh?” Angela leaned into her computer screen, and they could see her face in profile come up on the camera. “Oh… the colours. Those aren’t really finished. But I thought green would be more calming and send a less aggressive message.”

 

“Ah, so that’s what the problem’s been,” Jesse grinned and scooped the basketball back up off the floor.

 

Angela looked upset again,

 

“I didn’t mean-”

 

“It’s fine, Doctor,” Genji put in, “Jesse’s just being…” Genji glowered at him as he bounced the ball off the wall again, “… Jesse.”

 

“So you like it?” she asked hopefully.

 

“Does it keep the water out?”

 

She nodded.

 

“Then it does the job,” Genji answered.

 

She looked like she’d been hoping for a little more enthusiasm than that. She smiled though and brushed it off,

 

“We should be able do some reconstruction on your throat and jaw too.”

 

Genji nodded. His thoughts went to all those meals he might be able to taste again, to the company at dinner tables he’d be able to share, to the closer relationships he might be able to form. A cardamom red umbrella and a smile in the rain jumped into his mind.

 

“Will I be able to kiss people again?”

 

Angela’s face went scarlet.

 

“W-what did you say?”

 

Jesse turned his chair to face Genji,

 

“That’s my Genji, always nailing the important questions.”

 

Genji scowled at him.

 

“I-I don’t see why not,” Angela said quickly, pulling her professionalism back on,

 

“Sounds good,” Genji said, “as long as it’s you doing the procedure and not Moira.”

 

“Of course,” Angela gave him a smile. “I have to go now, but please keep safe, both of you. And Genji I’ll have to take a look at that bullet wound when you get back.” She signed off and for a few minutes after the room still felt lit by her radiance.

 

“She’s sweet on you for sure,” McCree kept bouncing the basketball, reaching back to catch it on its return before it could damage anything important.

 

“I’m a long term project, Jesse, nothing more.” Genji stood and stretched, “bet she was checking up on you every day after you lost your arm.”

 

Jesse tilted his head, conceding him that.

 

The door rolled open and the commander walked in. Jesse jumped up and dropped the ball surreptitiously on the floor. It bounced slightly and rolled, coming to a stop before the commander’s feet. Jesse winced. The commander looked unimpressed. Reyes jerked his thumb at the door. Jesse sighed and scuffed his heels as he left. Genji curled his fingers self-consciously. He always felt a little nervous when it was just him and the commander.

 

“Take a seat,” Reyes indicated the chair Genji had just got up from. Genji perched on its edge. “So, this information we got. Tell me about it.”

 

Genji was almost surprised it was him being asked, before he remembered he was technically meant to be in charge of this mission.

 

“There’s…” he sat straighter in his seat, trying to live up to whatever standard of professionalism the commander thought he had, “there’s a facility hidden in the Yamagata Prefecture where Null Sector have been gathering strength. We have the co-ordinates. It’s up in the mountains. Akemi believed that their purpose was to gather weapons and intelligence to back up their resistance cells in London, Birmingham, and Ma… uh…”

 

“Manchester. Yes, I’m aware that Null Sector has been gathering strength in those cities. Our main problem was their international lifelines. Cutting those off has always been a priority. If this is one, it will set their resistance back by years. Buying us some much needed time, seeing as the UK government won’t even let us set foot there to investigate.”

 

Genji nodded mutely. He didn’t really know what the commander was talking about, and had always stayed out of the running of missions up until now. He wanted to be helpful however.

 

“Good work as always, Genji. You’re becoming quite the asset to Blackwatch.”

 

Genji warmed at that.

 

“Did you kill the source?” Reyes asked.

 

A little of that warmth left Genji.

 

“… Yes, Commander.”

 

Reyes nodded, taking that without complaint,

 

“You clean up the body?”

 

Doubt flickered on Genji’s face,

 

“I… no… Hanzo said… I mean…”

 

“If he said to leave it, then that’s fine. He knows what he’s doing.”

 

Genji nodded again. Hanzo’s words came back to him, about Blackwatch being just like the Shimada. He hesitated, then said carefully,

 

“The man, Akemi,… he wouldn’t talk at first, Commander. It was… quite a drawn out process to make him spill information.”

 

The commander nodded. Genji could see him losing interest, his eyes flicking to where the archive maps were stored.

 

“I cut off all his fingers,” Genji blurted.

 

Reyes frowned slightly,

 

“Inventive.”

 

“And three of his toes.”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

“I kept cutting bits off him, Commander.”

 

“Not his tongue, I hope,” Reyes pulled the archive draw out and selected a silver sphere. He set it into the ship drive and a hyper detailed map spread as a hologram across the cockpit. Reyes stood, manipulating the map with his fingers. Miniature cities of light and flickering mountains skated passed him.

 

Genji watched him, crestfallen.

 

“He… he was screaming,” Genji whispered.

 

“They always do.”

 

Genji watched him for a moment. Then he stood,

 

“Shall… shall I ask Hanzo to join you? He has the all the co-ordinates and details written down.”

 

“Yep, that’d be great. Good work out there today, Kid.” Genji glanced back once as the commander moved the digital landscape around him. Genji gave a slight sigh and left the cockpit.

***

“Hey.”

 

“Hey,” Jack returned a little breathlessly. His eyes flicked toward the door, and then returned to Reyes, giving him a warm full smile. Reyes swallowed.

 

“I’m just… I’m not really calling for any particular reason…” Gabriel began, hoping to skip the bit where Jack thought there was an emergency.

 

“I know,” Jack said. His eyes were so bright Reyes wondered how he’d managed to put off caving to them for years.

 

“Although – we did have a breakthrough today. Taking off in a few hours to fly down south, then we’ll take a day tops to scout out a location we’ve got for this Null Sector base. Would you believe Japan was one of their supply depots? Can’t believe the months we spent checking out European ports.”

 

“European ports were a good shout,” Jack sighed, “we had to start somewhere. I would have used a port on the European continent if I was arming a group in London.”

 

“Because you think like the professional head of a legitimate organisation, not a terrorist, Jack.”

 

Jack blushed. Gabriel wasn’t sure how he’d managed to take that as a compliment rather than just a fact, until he realised he probably defaulted to cutting snarky comments when he usually spoke to Jack. That thought made his heart sink, and his mind went back to Ana’s words earlier. Talking with Jack now felt like something wrong, something selfish, something he was doing for himself. He frowned as he ruminated on this.

 

“Gabe? Everything ok?”

 

Gabriel glanced up. Jack’s face was filled with concern.

 

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” There wasn’t really any way he could share this feeling with Jack. What was he meant to do, protest that Jack shouldn’t let him in his life? He’d already tried that.

 

“Tell me,” Jack said gently.

 

“It’s nothing,” Gabriel saw a flicker of hurt pass over Jack’s features at being shut out again. He bit his lip and tried again. “It’s…” he shrugged. Jack nodded at him to continue. “I… I told Ana. That we were back together.”

 

Jack sat back,

 

“Gabe, why? We haven’t even gone on our first date yet! And you know how protective she is. Of both of us! She’ll just say we need to iron out our friendship and stop being dicks to each other first.”

 

“Yeah, she did pretty much say that,” Gabriel murmured, feeling a little reassured. He realised that wasn’t really what was bothering him though. All the way back to the jet, all the way through his debrief with Genji, his mind had been on the deception that proved Ana right. He just kept using people. Using Jack. How did he manage to use someone when they were over ten thousand kilometres away? “I actually only told her because…” _Shut up, Gabriel. Shut up. Don’t ruin this. You’ve wanted this for so long, don’t fuck it up as soon as it’s back within reach._ “I… I told because I was distracting her.”

 

Jack frowned slightly. Gabriel could see him trying to withhold judgement before he had the whole story.

 

“I was distracting her,” Gabriel said quietly, against all his more base and self-preservative desires and instincts, “so that she didn’t notice that…” This was getting harder by the moment, because sad, confused things were entering Jack’s eyes as he guessed where Gabriel was going, “…that some unorthodox methods were being used to extract information in the mission.”

 

There was a pause. Gabriel kept his eyes on the ground.

 

“You… used our one-day-old relationship to cover up torture?”

 

Gabriel winced. Yep. That was why this hadn’t worked last time. And it was definitely all on him. This was what he was like, was what he was good at. Hurting people.

 

“Sorry, Jack,” he said quickly while he still could. “I know you wanted better from me. And that it’s only been twelve hours, but at least-”

 

“At least you were honest,” Jack finished. Gabriel looked up. Jack had a brave smile on his face. It hurt Gabriel to look at it. “I wanted to know what was eating you… and even though you knew I wouldn’t like it, you told me.”

 

Gabriel wasn’t sure what to say. Anxious, uncertain things were written all over him. He’d been so sure this would end everything that he’d resigned himself to a night of restless self-loathing in the company of Mr Jack Daniels. Instead, he got to see Jack Morrison, still there, still trying to love him…

 

“Do…” Gabriel tried to keep his voice free of emotion, “do you want a raincheck on that date? I’d understand if you do.”

 

“And wait until we’re in our fifties before you say yes to the next one? Not likely, Gabe.”

 

Gabriel looked at him with dark, hopeful, unsure eyes.

 

“Thank you for being honest with me,” Jack became reflective. “I… I know how Blackwatch operates. I can read through the lines in the mission reports. I’m… I’m mostly upset because it’s sort of what the UN wants – I mean, they did set up Blackwatch to be secret. And they put you in charge of it because they thought you were ruthless. They asked you to do all this, but they let you shoulder all the guilt. It’s… it’s illegal but only if it’s brought to light. And they want you in the dark. The… the things Blackwatch does… aren’t- They’re not just you, Gabe. They’re what you’ve been asked to do. Everyone else is just too cowardly to take any responsibility for it.”

 

Gabriel blinked. He’d given up trying to make Jack see this position years ago, and resigned himself to the fact that he had to become the unpleasant face behind Overwatch, the one people talked about in whispers. Yes, he made unpleasant decisions, but it wasn’t as if he did all this to fill some sadistic need. He was the head of a UN sanctioned, secret, black-ops, paramilitary organisation. The mission files that got passed to him were all impossibly bleak with large, conspicuous, blank spaces under the sections left for method. It was never officially written so it was never officially condoned. As if a black-ops team had been set up to do anything but operate beyond the law. Let them believe it was all the creative work of the butcher, Gabriel Reyes, if that’s what they wanted, he’d always concluded coldly. If it meant they could sleep easy in their beds at night to have him shoulder all the blame, then so be it. At least he got the job done.

 

To have Jack know. To have him know that there was a man who was separate from this… _this stuff_ he did. He felt tears start in his eyes for the second time that day.

 

Jack looked up as if out of a reverie.

 

“Sorry,” he said quickly, “I know you don’t like talking about Blackwatch. Are… are you angry with me?”

 

Gabriel shook his head, not trusting himself to talk. _He still knows me. After all this time. I thought he only saw our rosy past. That he was in love with a man from twenty years ago. But he…_

 

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jack was agitated, trying to read Gabriel’s face, half hidden in shadow, “I was-”

 

“I wish you were here,” Gabriel moved closer to the hologram, unafraid that its light would bring his tears into view. The image of Jack, insubstantial and hovering, seemed impossibly far away just then. This was a man who knew him before all this, who knew what it had taken to get here, who knew the fractional differences in the choices they’d each made, who knew Gabriel beyond the armour he put on ever morning, both figuratively and literally. Jack had seen him at his best, and at his most vulnerable. Gabriel took a shuddering breath, “I miss you.”

 

Jack’s mouth opened in shock. That was slowly replaced by naked joy.

 

“I miss you too, Gabe. We’re going to make this work this time, I swear. I’ve got your back. You’re not alone, ok?”

 

Gabriel nodded. When had Jack stopped being a lovestruck subordinate and started being the pillar Gabriel needed just to stand up? Some time ago, if Gabriel was realistic. Possibly even always. He ran his hand hard over his face and let out a deep breath. It had been a long time since he’d felt this helpless, this emotional.

 

“Wrap this mission up and come home to me, ok?” Jack’s voice was soft.

 

Gabriel nodded again. A part of him was still stunned that Jack hadn’t ended things the moment he admitted to deceiving Ana. Or the moment he admitted being party to torture. On a semi-regular basis. Gabriel let out another deep breath. He brushed his hand over his eyes and collected himself.

 

“I can’t believe I get to have all this just because I spoke in Spanish about how I was going to pin you to a bed and make you gasp my name.”

 

Jack’s dropping jaw and flaming red blush gave Gabriel enough time to pull his ragged pride up from the humble places it had fallen to.

 

“Y-you said that?” Jack said in a small, disbelieving voice.

 

“Mm. And more,” Gabriel admitted, “sure hope that Hanzo Shimada isn’t as good with languages as he is a bow.”

 

Impossibly, Jack’s face managed to go even more red. He hid it in his hands,

 

“Gabrieeel…” Jack groaned into his palms.

 

“Yeah… that’s not far off the sound I was hoping for.”

 

“You… you’re the most embarrassing flirt I’ve ever…- H-how can you even say that stuff when there’s another person in the room with you!? You better be really careful! You know Genji has a translation device he can use if he wants?”

 

“Well, it weren’t Genji in the room with me, was it,” that was a disturbing thought though, he’d have to remember that.

 

“Just...” Jack was still hiding behind his hands, “just keep that talk to the bedroom, OK?!”

 

“The bedroom? Hmm, this first date is sounding more enticing by the minute.”

 

Jack’s eyes appeared above his fingertips,

 

“Oh! I didn’t mean to- I mean, that’s not what I-!”

 

“Adorable.”

 

“You know I’m going to be forty-five this year? You can’t call a forty-five year old man _adorable._ ”

 

“Just did. Oh, by the way, as a gift to the love of your life, can you buy a new fume cupboard for the Blackwatch research lab? Kinda overspent this month but couldn’t face telling Moira.”

 

“Overspent? You’ve got the biggest chunk of the Overwatch budget! What the hell did you overspend on?!”

 

“Shotguns. Mostly. I keep loosing them. I always mean to go pick them up once I’ve tossed the ones with empty cartridges but eh – kinda get carried away.”

 

“ _Gabrieel,_ ” Jack groaned again.

 

“Thought we agreed dirty talk is for the bedroom, Morrison.”

 

“I’m not going to come out on top of this discussion, am I-”

 

“Or the bedroom for that matter.”

 

“I was _about_ to say I’ll buy the equipment out of our reserve budget, but if that’s-”

 

“Of course you have a reserve budget. Jack perfect Morrison and his perfect reserve butt-get.”

 

Jack rolled his eyes,

 

“Yeah, you’re a real master of the English language, Gabriel Reyes. It’s evening here, which means it’s really late for you. Don’t the rest of the team worry about the excessive amount of time you spend on the comms?”

 

“Mm, pretty sure they all know I’m just chatting you up.”

 

“W-what?!” Jack paled, “who… who did you tell other than Ana!?”

 

“No one. But, you know. They’re all so nosy. That Jesse McCree’s been jibing at me to make a move at you for years.”

 

Jack let out a croak of disbelief.

 

“And even Genji spouted some lovey nonsense the other day and straight up asked if you and me were a thing,” Reyes was contemplative, “and unless Hanzo thinks I was talking to Torbjörn the other night, then I guess he probably-”

 

“What happened to subtle!?”

 

“Hey, you try living a week in a tiny jet with the most emotionally compromised guys on the planet. And Ana. It’s harder than it looks not to go spilling your guts, ok?”

 

A smile slipped slowly over Jack’s face and broke into a small, knowing laugh. He put a hand over his mouth to hide it. Gabriel watch him with open adoration. They locked eyes for a moment and silent, private things passed between them that were all peace and affection and want.

 

“I’ll talk to you later,” Jack promised, his voice quiet.

 

Gabriel nodded.

 

“Get some sleep,” Jack finished.

 

Gabriel nodded again and closed the transmission.

***

The jet was cutting through the early morning cloud as it descended. Eddies of mist whirled away from the roaring engines and a murder of crows took to the air, black wings beating as their caws filled the valley. Blue mountains had fuzzy edges, thick with conifer forests. The ORCA BW-001 set down on a precarious rocky clifftop that looked straight down onto a thin white line of a river. According their scanners this was the only spot clear enough of foliage to set down within miles.

 

Reyes stood and watched over the pilot’s shoulder at the jet finally came to rest on its roost.

 

“Nice landing.”

 

“Thank-you, sir.” Their pilot, Ray, was skilled at his craft. He kept his nose out of mission particulars and could pull off a fast getaway. Reyes liked him. The man hadn’t slept last night, and had flown them through the night to arrive in the small hours of the morning on Reyes’ instruction.

 

“Get yourself some rest.” Reyes walked back into the living quarters of the jet. He rolled up the window shutters and let in a tired early grey light. He turned to face the room. It was warm with body heat. The privacy curtains were all drawn across their respective compartments. Some shifted slightly as their occupants breathed or turned in their sleep. He drew in a breath. Sometimes it was fun being the officer in charge.

 

“ **UP**!” His voice boomed through the room, “there’s work to be done and you’re all sleeping on the job!”

 

Jesse’s tousled face appeared instantly from under his curtain. The nose of his revolver snaked out.

 

“Wh-who’s there!” he waved the gun around like a periscope, looking for intruders.

 

“Put that away before you hurt yourself, Jesse McCree.”

 

The curtain to Ana’s compartment was pulled aside. Ana let her feet drop to the floor and yawned. She was in a grey cardigan over a nightdress. She pulled a toothbrush out of a bag and slunk her toes into a pair of fluffy slippers.

 

“Morning to you too, Gabriel,” she said dispiritedly and sloped off to the washroom.

 

There was no sign of the Shimadas. Reyes strode over to the store cupboard Genji occupied. He banged his fist on its shutters.

 

“The Power Rangers are forming without you, Genji Shimada.”

 

The cupboard shutter rolled up, pushed by a cyborg leg.

 

“The Power Rangers were a Super Sentai rip off, Commander.”

 

“Bite me. Get your ass moving. And wake your brother.”

 

Genji’s eyes moved to the only untouched curtain opposite him.

 

“Why?” he said slyly, “you scared to, Commander?”

 

The commander gave him a pointed look, then stalked off. Jesse hung out of his bunk,

 

“Dayum. I didn’t think _anyone_ scared the boss.”

 

Genji rolled out of his cupboard and sat on the floor. He flicked the curtain across Hanzo’s bunk, making it twitch.

 

“Hanzo, the commander wants us awake.”

 

Silence.

 

“Prank him,” McCree hissed.

 

Genji gave him an unimpressed look and turned back to the silent bunk, this time talking in Japanese,

 

“ _Hanzo, time to get up.”_

 

There was a faint stirring this time. A muffled reply followed,

 

“ _You go do it for once, Genji. Father’s always calling for me.”_

 

Genji froze. He glanced back at McCree, before he realised his friend couldn’t understand the response.

 

“ _We’re on the Blackwatch jet, Hanzo. On a mission. Time to get up.”_

 

“ _I’m not getting up to watch stupid cartoons with you. Go bother someone else.”_

 

Genji sighed and leaned back against the wall.

 

“What he say?” Jesse asked

 

Genji shrugged,

 

“He’s definitely mostly asleep, that’s for sure.”

 

Reyes walked back through the room, he paused when he saw inactivity. His eyes went fury black. Jesse leapt out of his bunk and Genji stood up quickly.

 

“We’re moving, Boss, we’re moving!” Jesse placated.

 

Reyes breathed through his nose like some incensed dragon, then stalked on to the cargo hold. Ana came humming out the washroom, already dressed and looking awake. She plugged a kettle in and moved about, pulling out cups and sniffing from a range of teas aligned in caddies that she’d bought in Akita.

 

“Dibs on the washroom!” Jesse darted across to it.

 

“I don’t even need it!” Genji called after him, “I’m ninety percent machine! _Idiot._ ” He muttered as the washroom door slammed.

 

“Help me with this table, Genji.”

 

Ana and Genji unfolded the table from it’s lock away position in the floor, and drew chairs up to it.

 

“What’s this!?” Reyes said, coming back from the cargo hold. Genji wondered if he was just pacing up and down the ship to maximise the number of times he could come into the room and be angry.

 

“Most important meal of the day, Gabriel,” Ana hummed, and unlatched part of the wall that pulled down into a small portable kitchen, complete with two electric hobs and a little sink and tap.

 

She pulled a frying pan out and waved a finger behind her at a faded blue military rucksack,

 

“Bring that over please, Genji.”

 

Genji did as he was asked.

 

“No, I mean – what are _you_ doing?!” Reyes clarified.

 

Ana turned to him irritably,

 

“What does it look like I’m doing? Cooking. We need something a filling to start the day. We’ve got a mountain or two to climb and a lot of camping out to do. You need a hearty breakfast before-”

 

Reyes snatched the frying pan out of her hand. Ana glowered at him. Reyes glowered back. Genji shrank back into the corner. Ana’s glare burst into a cackling grin.

 

“Thought you’d never offer, Gabriel,” and she surrendered the kitchenette to him. Gabriel was still glaring as she wandered off to the cockpit.

 

“Wh-what…?” Genji looked up at the Commander, confused.

 

“She’s a terrible cook,” he replied, then poured oil into the pan and began rifling through Ana’s bag, fishing out a bizarre array of fresh vegetables and even a bag of half frozen potato chips.

 

Hanzo joined them once there was a table laden with steaming salted chilli peppers, sliced goats cheese, olives, a plate of fries, and a half dozen poached eggs. He looked sullen and tired, but was still well groomed and dressed in fresh uncreased clothing. Genji wondered if his brother ever woke up looking anything other than pristine.

 

Jesse picked up a pepper and sucked the salt off it.

 

“This breakfast is kinda weird.”

 

“Blame Ana. I just cooked what she bought,” Reyes said moodily.

 

“What? It’s a normal breakfast!” Ana reached for a pepper herself, “and very nicely prepared, thank-you, Gabriel.”

 

“Who has fries for breakfast?” Jesse proceeded to stuff six in his mouth at once, despite his complaint.

 

Genji sat at the table looking wistfully at the spread, determined not to say anything that might draw attention to how much he wanted to join in. He saw Hanzo watching him out the corner of his eyes, and kept his eyes fixed one spot.

 

Reyes shuffled three of the six eggs onto his plate with a plastic spatula. Jesse stared at the crime with an open mouth. Reyes raised one eyebrow at him,

 

“Think there’s only one super-soldier at the table who needs double the protein intake everyone else does.”

 

“Think there’s only one grandpa at the table more like.”

 

“Come reclaim these eggs if you want them, Jesse. You only have to go through one _grandpa_.” Reyes set his elbows on the flimsy table with a _thunk_ , making all the plates jump as he showed off his heavily scarred forearms and thick biceps.

 

“Does Moira have to put up with this posturing every time she goes on a mission with you?” Ana looked appalled.

 

Jesse jumped quickly on that avenue of conversation, keen to leave anything that looked like a competition with Reyes firmly in the dust.

 

“She’s ten times worse than any of us, I swear,” Jesse talked around the next mouthful of chips he’d stuffed in his mouth, “and she talks about super gross stuff while we’re tryin’ to eat. One time she started tellin’ me the uhh industrial process behind makin’ the chicken royale I was eatin’. Oof I swear I’ve never ate one since. And she uuh, huh Genji tell them about that one time you woke up ‘n’ she was starin’ at you.”

 

Genji blinked, startled at being included in the conversation.

 

“She… uh…” he noticed Hanzo’s eyes were studying him, but was careful to avoid them, “she’d been just leaning over me whilst I was sleeping, and she had a datapad in one hand at some weird device in the other. She said she was recording my… rapid eye movement? And when I freaked out she laughed and told me she was just finding out if androids dreamed of electric sheep.” Reyes chuckled into his plate of eggs, but Ana merely scowled. Genji folded his arms, “I’m not even an android. And I do dream, but it’s certainly not about _sheep_.”

 

He dreamed mostly of that morning in the castle. With the sun sliding through the open windows, and the tatami spongy beneath his tired feet, and his neck aching from the long night and train ride, and the light too bright for his hungover eyes. And his brother coming to a stop, standing before him, eyes dark and decisive. Genji shivered. No one else needed to know that though.

 

He glanced sideways, and saw Hanzo still looking at him. There was a slight anguish behind his steady gaze, as if perhaps he had known the places Genji’s thoughts had wandered to. Genji, after all, knew he wasn’t the only one with nightmares of that day.

 

“That Moira O’Deorain has some suspect standards,” Ana muttered, pouring two cups of tea from a pot and handing one to Hanzo. Hanzo received it but placed it before Genji, pouring another cup for himself. Genji blushed and looked at the cup. He glanced up at Hanzo apprehensively. He preferred not to eat or drink around the others. He’d only done so the other night with Hanzo in a fit of bravado. Besides, it was different in front of people he wanted to respect him as a teammate. Hanzo gave him an almost imperceptible nod of encouragement.

 

“Moira does good work. Important work,” Reyes gesticulated with a fork in a faintly threatening manner, “and besides, you’re always working with poisons and trying them out at random moments. Not exactly the height of propriety yourself when it comes to standards.”

 

Hanzo blinked and set down his tea firmly without drinking it. He covered Genji’s cup with a hand and glared at Ana, demanding an explanation.

 

“I didn’t poison the tea,” Ana levelled a look at him, and sipped her own pointedly.

 

Hanzo narrowed his eyes at her. He lifted his cup tentatively and drank. Only when he was sure did he lift his hand back off Genji’s cup. Genji unplugged a tube from the back of his skull. He glanced about hesitantly at the people around him. He brought the teacup a little closer. It was easier to do this with a straw. His eyes darted once more round the table. With a quick _slurp_ the tea vanished up the pipe, and Genji quickly stuffed it back into place, hoping the action didn’t draw attention. If anyone noticed, they said nothing of it. He felt a swell of belonging and held his empty teacup to him, pleased at being able to share in this small gesture. He watched the remainder of breakfast be eaten without his usual melancholy.

 

“Right,” Reyes sat back, throwing an olive into his mouth. It was fair to say he’d demolished at least half of all the food he’d cooked. “I didn’t want to set us down too close to this base because we have no idea what their tech is like. They could have scanners and defences for all we know. So it’s back to good old fashioned walking from here on out. We’re taking everything we need with us because the hike is a good few miles. Hope you suckers kept up your basic training at Gibraltar because it’s sweat and tears from here on out.”

 

“Y’know,” Jesse drank down the last of his coffee, “just once I’d like to here some pep talk like – you’re all amazin’ ‘n’ you’re gonna do a great job ‘n’ people are countin’ on you blah blah.”

 

“Sounds patronising,” Genji put in.

 

“It’s encouragin’!” Jesse exclaimed, “I once heard Morrison tellin’ a team that the world will remember them for what they done here today ‘n’ that every kid’s gonna have a poster of them on their wall.”

 

“Tough luck, Jesse. You’re in Blackwatch. You better hope no one remembers you or it’ll be because we were hauled up in front of Court of Human Rights,” Reyes stood and laced his fingers together, stretching them above his head until they cracked.

 

“I’ll put a poster of you on my wall, Jesse,” Genji leaned over, his voice a whisper, “I could use a target for my shuriken.”

 

Jesse shoved Genji away,

 

“When you were silent and moody I didn’t get all this cheek from you, Genji Shimada.”

 

Hanzo let out a huff of frustration. He’d been silent through most of the breakfast, impatiently waiting for the mission to start.

 

Jesse stood and took a few calculated steps away from the table before turning and saying lazily,

 

“Hey, Boss, you got any Overwatch posters on _your_ wall?”

 

Reyes’ face managed to look furious and somehow also embarrassed. Jesse snickered and darted out the room before he could be held accountable for that comment. Ana’s eyebrows raised at Reyes.

 

“Shut up,” he snapped at her, definitely blushing now.

 

An hour later they were fully kitted out and ready to leave the jet. Despite Reyes having the most muscle, and Genji having superior enhancements, McCree found himself carrying the heaviest tent and most of the cookware and spare ammunition. He vowed to himself never again to tease his commander just before setting off on a grinding mountaineering expedition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah don't tease your boss Jesse, bad idea. sulky angsty Hanzo turns the corner into grumpy overprotective brother. Thanks for your comments and continued encouragement, and welcome to new readers! You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/erenaeoth) and [tumblr](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/).


	25. Revelations Beneath the Stars

Thick mist left the air heavy and caused fat water droplets to cloud close in Genji’s hair. He rolled his shoulder and itched at the scar where his skin joined his armour.

 

“Holdin’ up ok, Kid?” Reyes looked back at him, his pack sitting easily on his hips and shoulders.

 

Genji nodded and pulled his shoulderstraps tighter. He tilted his neck and ran his fingers down either side of the metal plate in his throat. He shook his head and pushed his hand back through his wet hair. He expelled a puff of air and wiped what he could find of his brow free of sweat. Hanzo was next to him and glanced up in question at the commander.

 

“Humidity,” Reyes waved a hand vaguely in the air. “Makes his augments play up.”

 

Hanzo turned a face of concern to his brother.

 

“It’s fine,” Genji reassured him, “just aches at the joins, no malfunctioning.”

 

“Do you need to give someone else that pack?” Hanzo asked.

 

“Nope. I could carry twice this easily. Watch.”

 

Hanzo was about to protest, but Genji was already gone, leaping back down the track passed Ana, to where McCree was trailed behind, struggling with his heavy rucksack.

 

“It’s your lucky day, cowboy.”

 

Jesse didn’t complain as Genji relieved him of his load. Jesse bent over double and closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath.

 

“The… b-boss gave me the h-… heaviest,” he gasped between staggered breaths.

 

“Uh huh,” Genji lifted the pack up onto his shoulders, resting it horizontal across the one he was already carrying. He looped one arm through a shoulder strap and one through the belt of the bag and part skipped back up the hill.

 

“That was for Jesse to carry,” Reyes growled at him.

 

“Whatever, Commander.” Genji overtook him and stepped lightly as he trod the steep path.

 

Diving valleys were so thick with trees that Genji could see no horizons. He reached the edge of a ridge and looked down into the next valley. Everything was blue and grey green with heaped mist hanging heavy in the loitering wings. He narrowed his eyes and surveyed the valley. He could see nothing out of the ordinary. They would need Ana’s scope to see if there was anything more. He ditched both packs next to a rock and scaled a nearby tree, hoping to eradicate some of the nearby foliage and get a better view.

 

In the treetops the world was quieter. The wind was a little rougher, and all other sounds were muffled and far away. An eagle screech called from a distant cliff, but it still sounded deadened and flat on the thick air. Genji’s eyes moved over the still landscape, catching the ever present stamp counting up in the corner of his vision:

 

 _11_ _:_ _14_ _|_ _Download at_ _69_ _._ _84_ _%_

 

Jesse trailed up last still puffing with exertion. There was pain across his shoulder blades and down his lower back. He caught sight of the commander’s unimpressed expression and dodged his eyes. He massaged the back of his neck and slumped down next to the bags Genji had dumped. He pulled out his revolver and checked the cylinder, spinning it before flicking it back into place.

 

Ana had unmounted her sniper rifle scope and was scanning the valley. She nudged Reyes and pointed, handing him the scope.

 

Genji leapt from his treetop and landed crouched on top of the rock, limbs lithe and alert,

 

“See it?”

 

“I see a pretty tower,” Reyes said flatly.

 

“A pagoda marks the entrance to the Null Sector base,” Hanzo put in.

 

“Yeah, excuse me if I sound sceptical, I happen to be the world’s leading expert on Null Sector, and that don’t look anything like their usual MO.”

 

“It matches Akemi’s description of the place,” Hanzo said simply.

 

“How sure are we that this info from Akemi is accurate?” Reyes levelled a look at Hanzo.

 

Hanzo raised his eyebrows. His eyes flicked over to Ana, then back again to Reyes.

 

“I’m confident in my methods, if that’s what you’re asking, Commander Reyes.”

 

Genji and Jesse exchanged glances. Fortunately Ana was looking back through her scope again.

 

“Got a drone in sight,” she said.

 

Reyes turned quickly, abandoning his staring match with Hanzo,

 

“Where?”

 

A small light moved through the grey haze hanging over the treetops.

 

“Let’s move out,” Reyes said softly, but loud enough for all to hear, “and Jesse. Carry your own bag.”

 

The commander began again, leading a path down into the woods on the other side of the ridge they’d climbed.

 

Jesse exhaled a weary sigh. Before he could pick up his bag, it was on Genji’s back.

 

“That one’s mine,” he said without much enthusiasm.

 

“Is it?” Genji asked innocently, “my mistake. Guess you’ll have to carry my much lighter one then.”

 

Jesse hesitated, then gave a small, grateful smile. He heaved Genji’s rucksack up.

 

“Don’t tell the boss,” he muttered.

 

“Tell him what?” Genji’s eyes sparkled and he followed the commander into the forest.

 

Tall red cedars lined an ancient stone step path. Their trunks were enormous and blacked out the light like shutters in a small musty room. Carpet beards of grey green moss interwove about the stones beneath their feet. Damp deep shadows clung to the undergrowth. Thick hard snakes of roots interrupted their path in networks spread like ancient maps as they snagged in and out of the flagstones. Tumble down shrines marked with old sacred symbols stood guard at the wayside. Light came in intermittent dapples, struggling through the cathedral of darkness the cedars pressed upon them. There was a faint hum of insects in the air and the smell of woodland flowers in bloom, nodding fragile heads in the almost still air.

 

“Oof. Gives me the heebyjeebies,” McCree whispered, but his voiced carried in the quiet.

 

“Uncouth!” they heard Hanzo exclaim from behind them without much attempt to hide his distaste.

 

“I ain’t that,” Jesse mumbled, this time trying harder to keep his voice down so that only Genji could hear.

 

Genji glanced around himself and shrugged,

 

“I think I like it,” he ran his finger over a weathered stone bodhisattva perched on a rock by the path as he walked, “I never had much time for still places before. I could get used to somewhere like this.” He was thoughtful for a moment, then sly again, “at least there are no _omnic go home_ posters.”

 

“For you to vandalise,” Hanzo added.

 

Genji scowled over his shoulder at him. Jesse raised an eyebrow.

 

“You vandalisin’ posters now, Genji?”

 

“Every chance I get,” Genji returned without a trace of humour.

 

“Ouch. You do know we’re heading to a Null Sector base right?”

 

“Believing there should be equality between humans and omnics has nothing to do with Null Sector.”

 

McCree raised both eyebrows at him,

 

“When’d you go become the expert?”

 

“Since one launched into a genocidal speech and made it crystal clear what it thought of me.” Genji tried not to sound bitter at the topic. He always tried to steer clear of his companions’ thoughts on omnics. That was the best way not to be disappointed by them.

 

“I never did ask about what was going on between you and that omnic up in the tower. Kinda got distracted by you deflectin’ (and not deflectin’) bullets.”

 

“There’s nothing to tell,” Genji said non-committally, irritated by the reminder that most of Blackwatch still couldn’t really conceive of the idea that omnic extremists were a whole lot different from any other omnics.

 

“Come on now,” Jesse persisted, “what did it-”

 

“Mr McCree.”

 

Jesse withered at the sharp interruption. He glanced back and got a face full of Hanzo glaring at him. Jesse chewed his lip and picked up his pace so that he didn’t have to stand close to that temper.

 

Genji was still smouldering when Hanzo matched his pace and joined him walking down the ancient stone pathway as it delved deeper into the valley.

 

“ _They cannot see when they anger you_ ,” Hanzo said quietly in their native tongue.

 

“ _I’m wearing a mask. And it’s probably a culture thing. Jesse wears his emotions on his sleeve._ ”

 

“ _He wags his unsophisticated tongue too often._ ”

 

“ _Offended on my behalf, brother?_ ” Genji managed to replace a little of his sullenness with amusement.

 

“ _Hmph!_ ” Hanzo turned away, “o _f course not._ ”

 

They were content to keep a quiet between them after that. Enjoying the silence and absence of the need to speak.

 

The front of their group was headed by Ana and Reyes talking in hushed tones. From a distance, their words appeared grave and urgent.

 

“Absolutely not.” Ana hissed.

 

Reyes spoke out the side of his mouth at her,

 

“Why not! It’s meaningful! Because I took my team there and implied I didn’t want him there… But this would be me turning it around… to say I do. Want him there, I mean.”

 

“You’re not taking someone on a first date to some sketchy old men’s bar, Gabriel. And if you want a list of places you’ve been rude to Jack in so that you can-”

 

“Alright, alright. But where then. Algeciras? Has he been to Algeciras? He never gets out of the base. This is why _I’ll_ inevitably have to choose the location even though it was _his_ idea. I’ll have to pretend to think he’s got an idea, and then when he blushes and goes all clueless and scratches his head, I better have this damn good back up ready.”

 

“Hm, that does sound like Jack.”

 

“I should have stayed to look around town with Genji after we scared that last perp shitless. I had no idea this was all going to escalate so fast.”

 

“I fully believe you did at least ninety-five percent of the escalating, Gabriel.”

 

Gabriel scowled at her,

 

“Either say useful stuff or kindly keep your speculations to yourself.”

 

“Not a no then.”

 

“It wasn’t me! Look, I may have been flirting shamelessly in Spanish, but Jack’s got the linguistic awareness of buffalo, so I’m not sure how he worked out what I was doing.”

 

“Maybe he’s a special buffalo.”

 

“That he most certainly is,” Reyes agreed, then they both stifled laughter into their palms, hiding their amusement from their subordinates.

 

“What’s goin’ on down there?” Jesse called nervously. In his opinion, if the captain and commander agreed on something, it usually involved liberal uses of sleep darts and experimental poisons. Jesse gave a huff when he was ignored. He thought back to sitting in the Blackwatch commonroom and Genji’s casual suggestion that he join them on this mission. He could be eating yogurts in front of the television while watching Sergio Leone movies or _Toy Story_ instead of traipsing through thick mist with a heavy bag and four colleagues with no sense of humour to speak of.

 

They set up camp about halfway down the valley, but with enough elevation to give themselves a decent view of the approach to the pagoda.

 

“Right,” Reyes clicked his fingers, “no slacking, I want camp made quickly so that we can get on checking this place out. There’s no telling how well connected these tin-cans are. They might have got wind of the trouble we caused them up north, so let’s keep this schedule ticking. There’s a three-man tent and a two man tent, I want them pitched, storm guys and all. This mist will work in our favour for now, but keep an eye out for sun on metal and glass, I don’t want to give our position away before we’ve even got within a mile of the place. Especially goes for you, baby Shimada.”

 

“Commander…” Genji grumbled at the name.

 

“What? There’s two of you now, what am I meant to call you?”

 

“How about ‘Genji’?” Genji muttered, but Reyes was already pulling canvas and tent poles out of his bag.

 

“You carry so much with you,” Hanzo said imperiously to no one in particular, “when I hunt down my enemies, I need no such attachments and distractions.”

 

“Yeah, us materialists clutchin’ at our daily need for food, water, ‘n’ shelter, whatever next.” That was a heavier dose of sarcasm than Jesse usually went in for, but he was feeling a little isolated just then. Hanzo gave him a cold look.

 

“ _I_ don’t need a tent.” Hanzo said stiffly, looking off into the horizon.

 

“It’s spring, Hanzo,” Genji was patient, “it’ll be cold and wet at night and in the morning.”

 

“I’m not sharing a _tent_ with anybody,” his brother practically spat. Genji nodded, understanding touching his thoughts. He was not without reluctance himself, given how disturbed his infrequent sleep was these days. He suspected Hanzo’s reasoning might be similar to his own.

 

“I will share a tent with you,” Genji said simply, “that is, if the commander, captain, and Jesse don’t mind sharing.”

 

“Aw naw, that’s like havin’ to sleep in the same room as your parents.”

 

“Thank you for that, _Jesse._ ” Ana looked up from where she was packing to give him a stern raised eyebrow.

 

“Also the commander’s massive, he takes up like the space o’ two people.” Jesse complained.

 

“Want to pick up that bag and do another ten k, Jesse McCree?” That was Reyes.

 

“No, sir!” Jesse said very quickly. Reyes’ threats were never just idle banter after all.

 

The camp was made relatively swiftly, and before the day had tilted too far into afternoon. While the last tent ropes were being hammered in place, Reyes sent Hanzo and Ana off to scout the pagoda. Genji was unimpressed.

 

“I want to go. I always go on infiltrating missions.”

 

“Hence why I said _scouting_ and not infiltrating,” Reyes patience was wearing a little thin.

 

“I thought I was meant to be a leader for this mission,” Genji glowered.

 

“Not when your commander’s on the ground.”

 

Genji gave a huff,

 

“I can do anything Hanzo can do.”

 

“Uh huh,” Reyes said without interest, “give me a couple of sonic arrows then.”

 

Genji scowled and sat down next to Jesse.

 

“I can’t believe you’re making me share a tent with the boss and Ana, you traitor,” Jesse muttered at him. “Also I can’t believe you actually offered to share a tent with the guy who…” Jesse trailed off.

 

Genji felt something clench inside him. It wasn’t like he had forgotten. It was just it was getting harder to relate that action to the brother he’d spent the last few days with. Doubts resurfaced as he recalled just how earthshattering that break in trust had been.

 

“He can’t string a bow inside a tent,” Genji replied sardonically, covering up the anxiety he felt inside, “the close quarters favour my wakizashi. I think I’d come out on top in a fight this time.”

 

Jesse’s face twitched, unsure whether to laugh or not, he settled with a slightly uncertain smile. They looked up as Reyes crouched before them.

 

“Haven’t had much time to talk just the three of us. You both all good so far? I know this mission’s a little different from our usual gig.”

 

“Goin’ just fine, Boss,” Jesse said a little hollowly, he hadn’t forgiven Reyes for the six hour hike with the heaviest rucksack.

 

Genji nodded in agreement with McCree.

 

“If the sleeping arrangements are a problem, I can take the tent with big brother,” Reyes fixed serious eyes on Genji despite his light tone.

 

“It is okay, Commander. Like you said – I am fast. I can take him.”

 

Reyes gave a grim smile,

 

“Attaboy.” He stood and stretched, then went back to the tent and brought out a series of pocket-sized solar panels, leaving them to charge while it was still light.

 

Hanzo and Ana were back at dusk. By this time, Reyes was cooking on the solar stove, tossing in instant noodles, what was left of the random fresh vegetables from breakfast, and wild garlic he’d found growing just down the slope. They talked over dinner as fireflies drew close.

 

“The pagoda is on a path belonging to an ancient pilgrimage route,” Hanzo explained, “there are other small shrines nearby but otherwise no substantial buildings.”

 

“One of the shrines backed onto a waterfall,” Ana continued. She’d pulled a fork out of her pocket and left a pack of disposable chopsticks unopened next to her, “on closer inspection however, the river spilling over the cliff appeared to have been diverted from an older course. We found evidence of a much older river bed bending away from the pagoda.”

 

“It is not unusual for people in ages passed to cultivate an aesthetic pleasing to their spiritual practices, but under the circumstances, we considered it unusual.”

 

“Hanzo shot a sonic arrow at the waterfall itself. Whilst there were no life signs, its did reveal a passage in the rock beyond the waterfall.”

 

“The passage was large enough for a person to comfortably fit through, but I was hesitant to explore far beyond it’s entrance. Captain Amari could not cover me with the waterfall obscuring her shot. There was however a large natural rock chamber immediately beyond the passage, and evidence of use.” Hanzo reached into his kimono and brought out a shell casing. He handed it to the commander who pulled out a torch to inspect it. “Not wishing to progress further without backup, we instead sought to circumnavigate the hideaway, and search for alternate exits and to gain an indication of its size.”

 

“The whole area is very dense woodland, but we were able to follow the old course of the river on its dried up course. Hanzo pointed out that if we could trace its original path, the softer earth and old plunge pool might serve as a sensible place to set another entrance. As he predicted, our search brought us to a second opening. This one was heavily overgrown, but much wider than the waterfall entrance.”

 

“There were tracks as well in the mud. Most were imprints that revealed little information other than the Omnic origin of their owners. There were however also tread marks.”

 

“Didn’t happen to note the different sizes of the prints and how many of each type there were?” Reyes asked.

 

Hanzo frowned and shook his head, he looked a little disappointed in himself.

 

“We’ll take you there tomorrow, Gabriel, you might be able to tell us what different kind of machines to expect from the prints,” Ana said.

 

“My thoughts exactly,” Reyes answered. “Well, this is a start. It’s a shame this place isn’t easier to scout. Any infiltration tomorrow will be almost blind, without any real sense of the shape and size of this place. If we had more time, I could get a geological scanner out here, see how far underground this thing goes. That costs time though, and I’m worried our activities in Akita may not have gone unnoticed. I’m especially thinking of that decapitated Nulltrooper.”

 

“That guy had it coming,” Genji put in. He was impressed by the work that Ana and Hanzo had done, but couldn’t help feeling left out. Hanzo got to go scouting with the legendary Captain Amari while he had to listen to McCree talking about bad dubbing in Spaghetti Westerns all afternoon.

 

“What is this?” Hanzo gestured to his bowl and looked up at the commander.

 

“Edible,” Reyes gave a predatory smile, as if daring anyone to suggest otherwise.

 

Hanzo settled back into his frown.

 

“I wanted to go find cool secret hideout in a waterfall,” Genji muttered at his brother.

 

“ _The coolest Shimada was sent to find the cool waterfall hideout._ ”

 

Genji nearly dropped his teacup. He stared at Hanzo. Hanzo continued eating in his mildly imperious manner.

 

“Hey no in-joke brother stuff in Japanese,” Jesse scowled.

 

Reyes had a look of concentration on his face,

 

“Tomorrow we’re still scouting, but I want an infiltration team.”

 

“Oh pick me, Boss!” Jesse put his hand in the air. Reyes gave him a look. Jesse’s arm wilted.

 

Reyes continued,

 

“The plan is still to try and get some intel on what we’re up against. Strictly observation only. There aren’t enough of us to go guns blazing into a fully kitted out military base, so I want to know exactly what’s going on in there before I so much as smell a smoking gun. Or a ninja star or a fucking arrow or whatever the kids use these days.”

 

Hanzo folded his arms and glowered.

 

Reyes finished his food and set it down,

 

“Any sign of drones, by the way?”

 

“Not that we saw,” Ana mused. “I’d recommend posting a watch anyway, though.”

 

Reyes nodded. Jesse gave an audible groan.

 

“I can do that,” Genji said. It would mean Hanzo could keep his much desired privacy. “I do not need to sleep much anyway. I can just plug in to those solar batteries for a little.”

 

“We’ll rotate,” Reyes said, “You do still need to sleep, Genji. We’ll take an hour and a half watches each.”

 

“Commander, I-”

 

“An hour and a half each, Genji. Jesse, you’re up first. Then Genji, Hanzo, Ana, I’ll take last.”

 

Jesse had the grace to blush at being given the easiest watch. He collected up all the finished dinner bowls wordlessly and went to wash them. Ana and Reyes sat close to the door of the larger tent and Reyes pulled out a datapad and began scrolling over a digital map. He brought the image out of the pad with with a motion from his hand.

 

“So dense with forest here,” Genji heard him say, “at least we have the elevation charted.”

 

“Hmm,” Ana cut off the irrelevant parts of the map with a chopping motion, then spun the remaining image round and spread her fingers to zoom in. “No indication of what might be below surface level though. As good as blind.”

 

Genji heard the zip of the tent behind him being undone. He glanced back. Hanzo gave him one sullen look before crawling inside and zipping the door after him.

 

Genji joined Jesse as he finished drying and putting away the last of the cookware. Jesse pulled the nightvision goggles from out of the pack and draped them around his neck. He hit his arm and flattened an insect trying to bite him.

 

“Where’s a good spot, you reckon?”

 

Genji helped him choose a place to set up watch. They knelt together, listening to the chirrup of crickets shaking the air.

 

“Noisy buggers, ain’t they.”

 

Genji nodded his agreement.

 

“Wake me, when it gets to midnight.”

 

“You got it. But uh…” Jesse shifted where he was sitting, “Can you keep you’re comm on? Only I don’t fancy puttin’ my nose in that tent, on account o’ how if I accidentally wake your brother…”

 

Genji laughed but agreed. Jesse smiled with relief.

 

When Genji crawled into the tent, Hanzo was a bulk of sleeping bag. Genji lay back on his own sleeping bag. He had little need for it, and could wrap it around his shoulder if he felt cold. He put one arm under his head and looked up at the darkened tent canvass. The slivers of a soft moon lit it faintly, enough that he could see the silhouette of little insects walking over the outside of the tent.

 

“ _Just like when we were boys,”_ he said softly.

 

“ _We never went camping.”_

 

He’d not really expected an answer, but smiled at Hanzo’s reply.

 

“ _Sure we did. The laundry drying on the outer balcony? We hid in there for half the night.”_

 

There was quiet. Genji didn’t expect Hanzo to remember that. It was one of those casual, childish memories that his brother excelled at exorcising from himself.

 

“ _Mother was angry when she found out we’d been lying under damp clothes. She thought we’d catch a cold._ ”

 

Genji rolled over and propped himself up on an elbow,

 

“ _Huh? I don’t remember her being angry.”_

 

“ _She wasn’t angry with you, idiot. You were only five._ I _was old enough to have known better.”_

 

“ _Eight-years-old.”_

 

“ _Old enough,”_ Hanzo corrected.

 

Genji lay back, looking up again.

 

“ _I guess you and I remember lots of the past very differently.”_

 

When Hanzo didn’t answer, Genji sighed. He let his eyes close.

 

“ _Does it bother you? Being this close to your would-be killer?_ ”

 

Genji didn’t open his eyes,

 

“ _Should it?_ ”

 

“ _Yes,_ ” Hanzo said simply. _“You should not trust me._ ”

 

“ _I don’t trust you… to be good enough to best me in a fight.”_

 

There was a ruffle of feathery down. Genji’s eyes crinkled with mirth. He opened them and turned his head. Hanzo’s grumpy features were thrown into relief by the wan light of the moon. His sleeping bag was nestled up to his chin.

 

“ _You had your chance,_ ” Genji said mildly, _“_ _a_ _nd you fucked it up. Now I’ve got awesome cool enhancements._ _Face it Hanzo,”_ Genji grinned in the dark and switched to English, “I could kick your butt.”

 

“ _Your not taking this very seriously,_ ” Hanzo’s voice was cold, but Genji couldn’t put any weight in it, because Hanzo was wrapped up so tightly in poofy duvet.

 

“ _Because you look so ridiculous right now.”_

 

“ _You made me stay in a tent!”_

 

“ _Mm. Surprised you listened. Was kind of looking forward to seeing you wet and cold and shivering and in a furious mood because you were wrong and I was right.”_

 

“ _I’m going to sleep. Stop talking.”_ Hanzo rolled over so that his back was to him.

 

Genji closed his eyes again. He had in fact been dreading the idea of sharing a tent, despite proposing the idea himself. Now that he was here though, listening to the occasional soft ruck of wind disturbing the canvass above, he did not feel afraid. It was strangely calming to have that familiar breathing nearby. Everything since the incident had taken him from place to place, meeting new people, kitted with a new body. Everything was strange, foreign, and learning to trust strangers whilst trying to come to terms with what he had become was… exhausting. Now that he was finally on home soil, next to a brother that knew him… despite everything that had happened between them, he felt like he could let out a long held breath. He felt like he could let go of some of the personality he’d been clinging to like his life depended on it. He could just be. He shuffled a little closer.

 

“ _Go to sleep, Genji.”_

 

“ _Okay, okay,”_ he murmured, and let his eyes drift shut.

 

***

 

He was awakened by Jesse McCree’s voice very loud in his head. He blinked open his eyes.

 

 _00_ _:_ _0_ _2_ _|_ _Download at_ _76._ _47_ _%_

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Sorry, ninja boy. That’s an hour and a half. You’re up next, hope you didn’t get too comfortable.”

 

Genji let out a slow breath that rattled through his ventilator. He crawled out of his tent, taking care not to wake Hanzo.

 

It was truly dark now – so dark that the sky was the lightest thing around. It was a deep purple blue spread above him, with handfuls of tossed silver stars hanging like a dusting over the black forests.

 

“Sure is somethin’ out here,” Jesse whispered to him, “this is a side o’ Japan I could get used to.”

 

“I’ve never really been out here before,” Genji admitted. He’d once done a section of the Shinjo line through the mountains in order to attend a luxurious party at a private hot spring bath house, but that didn’t really compare to this.

 

“I love it,” Jesse said with an earnesty that Genji rarely heard. “Somethin’ so real ‘n’ raw about bein’ in wild places. Come to a place like this with a head fulla worries and within moments, you’ll be like – huh what’s even the point in worryin’ over a silly thing like that. How can you worry about what some recruit in the canteen’s been sayin’ about suspect stuff on your last mission, when out here there’s no canteens, ‘n’ no missions, ‘n’ no anythin’ really save the stars ‘n’ the hills.”

 

“Wow.” Genji pulled the edge of McCree’s serape over his bare shoulder, “didn’t take you for a philosopher.”

 

“Hardly philosophy,” Jesse laughed, but he sounded a little vulnerable, “just a way to get through things, ain’t it.”

 

Genji considered.

 

“I find the opposite the case. When there are many, many people, and lots of music, it is like a space opens up where you do not have to be anyone or anything in particular. I like that. That is my ‘hardly philosophy’.”

 

“It’s a strange thing that we’re sittin’ here, such different people with such different pasts. Guess the Omnic Crisis did that for a lotta folks, and we’re still ridin’ the end o’ that wave.”

 

Genji raised his eyebrows, though that couldn’t be seen in the dark.

 

“The Omnic Crisis did not bring me here today. Humans did.”

 

“Sure, sure,” Jesse agreed, “but we’re here to stop omnics. We been brought together to stop the threat they pose, is all I mean. It’s somethin’ that transcends pasts ‘n’ cultures ‘n’ all that.”

 

“We’re here to stop Null Sector,” Genji corrected.

 

“Yeah, that’s what I meant,” Jesse said. The man seemed to sense that Genji wasn’t particularly feeling this conversation and dropped it. “Anyhow, I ain’t sure o’ the exact time-”

 

“It’s high noon.” Genji jumped on the topic change.

 

“It ain’t fuckin’ high noon, Genji, it’s just about the opposite of high noon. It is for sure your shift, though, and I ain’t stayin’ up with you for it if that’s what you’re tryin’a pull here.”

 

“It’s high noon somewhere in the world.”

 

“Yeah, in your dreams. Stop stealin’ my lines. Catch you in the mornin’. Keep the serape. I got three more in the tent, provided the boss hasn’t nabbed them for a pillow.”

 

Genji pulled the warm wool over him and folded his arms across his chest to keep off the bite of the night chill. The crickets were loud in the dark. He could here the distant, murmur of a river through their constant trilling. He looked up at the stars and tried to remember the stories he’d been told about the constellations.

 

Now that he had a little time to himself, his mind wandered back through the last few days. He tried to pinpoint the moment when keeping Hanzo’s company had stopped sending waves of dread through him. The admission that he didn’t mind spending time with his brother left a sour taste in his mouth, like he was somehow betraying a part of himself. This should be the kind of hatred that lasted a lifetime. This should be the kind of thing that he didn’t just take a few days to forgive and forget. _But it’s not like I’m forgiving or forgetting,_ he tried to reason with himself, _I’m just doing this mission the best I can like the commander asked. And it’s so exhausting being angry all the time. Is it so bad to want a break, to want some peace, to want to be treated as a brother by him when it’s been denied to me for so many years? And what if he really does regret it?_ _ **If he regrets it, he can apologise for it. Remember he spoke of a duty to his family. A family that did not include you.**_ _But he’s been trying to get on with me. He’s been trying to look out for me and do better._ _ **It’s a little too late for all that.**_ It was definitely far too late for a casual reconciliation. Genji sighed and rested his metallic cheek against the metallic knees he drew close to his metallic chest.

 

He tried to keep his mind clear for the rest of the watch, surveying the landscape for any stray lights or sounds that might indicate a sally forth from the direction of the silent pagoda. He found his attention always slipping though, wondering where he’d be right now if Hanzo hadn’t attempted to correct the mistake of his existence. It was mid-spring, a time when there were lots of festivals up and down the country. Perhaps he’d be at one of those. He’d attempted to throw a surprise party of his own once at Shimada castle. The location was so perfect when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and the castle was always so stuffy. He’d gotten three sound systems rigged up and two dozen people into the grounds before all the grumpy traditionalists realised Genji was flashmobbing his own home. The priceless look on his father and Hanzo’s face had still been totally worth it. He’d been properly shouted at for that. Something about Shimada secrets, private grounds, sacred places, old heirlooms, expensive art et cetera. And Hanzo throughout the whole thing giving him one of those glares that had made people that weren’t accustomed younger brothers shake in their boots. The sombre bell hanging in its raised shrine beyond the main gates had never looked quite so imposing once you’d seen it in the midst of a half dressed crowd in UV make-up doing synchronised seductive dance moves around it. He smiled fondly at the memory. Maybe he had tempted fate a little. He sighed again.

 

***

 

“ _Please, please, come! I’m not allowed to go on my own, but if you say you’re coming, everything will be fine. There are going to be so many cool game previews, and it’s so rare that they do this stuff near us! Everything’s always in Tokyo or Kyoto and just this one time it’s right down the street. Well – um, maybe a fifteen minute drive in the car, but you can get someone to drive us, right? Please, please, Hanzo, everyone always listens to you.”_

 

“ _Genji, I already said no, I’m joining Father for a meeting this afternoon.”_

 

“ _But it’s not even just things_ I _like! There’s going to be the new Okami game there!”_

 

_Hanzo hesitated and chewed his lip. Sometimes he wondered if his little brother existed just to dangle temptations in front of him. It was already so hard to please everyone around him, he really didn’t need all these distractions to help him fall further from expectation. It irked him that no one ever seemed to expect such restraint from his brother._

 

“ _If you want to go and concern yourself with such trivial things, then be my guest, but I have more important matters to attend to.” In the corner of his eye Hanzo could see one of the clan elders pausing mid-way through some task to hear the end of this conversation. His chest clenched. He knew he should be used to the eyes on him at all times, constantly testing him and measuring him, but the idea of being under constant surveillance and judgement still flooded him with anxiety. He turned his eyes back to his brother. The boy had silly spiked hair and someone had let him wear a lurid green and black kimono with very little taste. His young eyes were filled with sadness and confusion._

 

“ _But… but you really like that game,” Genji protested, “and you were so good at it! I really liked watching you play. I can’t do any of the drawing stuff, but I was really looking forward to watching you play the next one. Don’t… don’t you want to play through the next game with me?”_

 

_Hanzo’s gaze flicked to the figure in the corner – they were partially hidden behind a folding screen, bending down under the semblance of completing some task hidden from view._

 

“ _Don’t be foolish,” Hanzo snapped, “I never liked that stupid game. I merely humoured you to keep you quiet. I won’t be doing so again. I have more important matters to consider now.”_

 

_For a moment he thought his brother was going to cry, then a hard expression came over Genji’s face. His brother wrestled with something for a moment, then pulled himself together, taking a deep breath._

 

“ _Ok, sure, whatever you say. Can you just accompany me so I can go?”_

 

“ _Take one of the enforcers. It’s their job to be your bodyguard. I already told you, I’m in a meeting with father this afternoon.”_

 

“ _But-but it’s Saturday! I thought you were allowed days off on Saturday. You do things with Father all of the weekdays after school. This is just a one off thing, Hanzo, it’s not like it happens every week, or even every year and-”_

 

“ _Genji!”_

 

_Genji quailed under that stare. Hanzo turned away from Genji’s upturned hurt face before he could succumb to the way it tugged on his heart strings. His eyes sought ought the clan elder in the corner. She was an old woman, influential on the council, a distant aunt on his father’s side. She rose now, her full ornamental kimono stiff and starched. She turned to him and gave him a slight nod. Hanzo felt a wave of relief. This was countermanded by a tugging on his sleeve. Genji had given up his emotional appeal and now resorted to tears and hanging on his arm. Hanzo felt his face heat up under the silent inspection of his aunt. He snatched his arm out of reach._

 

“ _Hanzo,” Genji begged, “Hanzo-”_

 

Hanzo’s eyes fluttered open.

 

“Hanzo,” he heard again. This time deeper and touched by a faintly mechanical filter.

 

“Genji?” He frowned in confusion, still half draped in the trappings of dream and memory.

 

“It’s time for your watch,” Genji said gently, “but I don’t mind taking it, I’m already awake and don’t mind doing double.”

 

Hanzo immediately sat upright. He pulled on a heavy haori over his kimono and reached automatically for his sake bottle.

 

“Absolutely not,” he said, and pulled out a small mirror. He frowned when it was too dark to see his reflection, “a little light, please.”

 

Genji let his armour lights brighten and Hanzo inspected himself in their red glow, pulling his hair back and letting out a flick of hair with his fingers that fell artfully over his face.

 

“There’s no one else out there, Hanzo. And it’s pitch black,” Genji reminded.

 

“One should need no audience to look presentable.” He motioned with a hand and Genji obediently retreated so that Hanzo could exit the confines of the tent.

 

He received the nightvision binoculars from Genji and laid out a stretch of tarpaulin on the damp ground, seating himself crosslegged. He was surprised when Genji sat down next to him.

 

“Your watch is over,” he said. He hadn’t meant for that to sound sharp, but saw that the words elicited an apologetic curl of his brother’s shoulders. “But suit yourself if you wish to stay,” he added. Genji said nothing, but neither did he move.

 

Hanzo was puzzled by this. It still came as a surprise to him every time his brother didn’t immediately flee from him the moment their interactions were not necessary. He took a moment to glance at the part-man, part-machine next to him.

 

“Is that Mr McCree’s cowboy blanket?”

 

“Cowboy blanket!” Genji exclaimed, his eyes lit up red in the dark, “that’s a good name for it. And yeah it was getting kind of chilly. He’s got loads of these things anyway.”

 

“I can lend you something less aesthetically bankrupt if you prefer,” Hanzo kept his voice even, but was pleased to see that amused Genji.

 

“I don’t think you’d appreciate me cutting holes in your clothes to fit all the wires and stuff through. At least Jesse’s shapeless cowboy blanket just kind sits on top of it all.”

 

“The holes could serve to show off some of my fine physique,” Hanzo said mildly. That got him another laugh, and it warmed Hanzo to hear his brother so relaxed and easy around him.

 

Genji tapped a thick tube that fed into his organic forearm,

 

“Everyone’s going to be smitten when they see that one inch of Hanzo wrist revealed at last to public scrutiny.”

 

“I need all the help I can, what with my charming personality making everyone run a mile.”

 

Genji laughed again and Hanzo permitted himself a slight chuckle. He immediately felt guilty however, and stoppered his emotions. This shouldn’t be happening. He shouldn’t be allowed to feel this peace, this tenderness, this comfort. He’d waived all right to it. He reached for a subject to put some more distance between them, hoping to gently push Genji away, preferably to bed, so that Hanzo could sit and drink alone through the small hours of the morning.

 

“I never asked you about the dragon.”

 

Predictably, he saw Genji’s shoulders stiffen.

 

“What about it?” Genji said guardedly.

 

“You still carry your blade. Can you still summon the dragon?”

 

“Of course,” Genji said stiffly. There was something hidden in that response. Hanzo let the truth naturally prise itself from his brother. “I mean… I haven’t tried since… But I know I still can.”

 

“How do you know if you haven’t tried?” he probed, hoping to nudge Genji into self-conscious silence.

 

“I just know,” Genji returned, “I can feel it.”

 

“Then why haven’t you tried?” Why was obvious to Hanzo. To summon an ancestral dragon was to be a true Shimada. Even the remote possibility of not being able to was to be robbed of a vital part of identity. Better not to know than to have that horror confirmed.

 

He watched Genji struggle with his answer, feeling vindicated at the obvious discomfort. This was a better way for them to be.

 

“I… I suppose I’m scared to try. Just in case I can’t,” Genji said in a small voice. Hanzo blinked. He hadn’t actually expected to get that admission. “And besides… I’m already kind of the top freak on the base. Don’t really need to give people any more reason to stare at me. I can serve Blackwatch well without summoning it. And if someone like Moira found out, she’d probably set up a whole load more of invasive experiments. Not really keen to jump into all that.”

 

“I haven’t summoned my dragons since that night,” Hanzo said suddenly. He wasn’t sure why. It just felt right to share something equally personal.

 

“Really? But I thought everyone was talking about them running rampant round the castle, killing clan members indiscriminately?”

 

“Didn’t need them to do that. I did that all with the personal touch of my own hand.” He saw Genji shudder, and mentally scolded himself. “Sorry,” he added quickly. There was a strange movement from his brother at that word. He seemed to tense even further, as if with anticipation. Hanzo blinked in realisation, _he’s wondering if I’m… apologising for that night._ _As if I could apologise for such a thing._ He sat in silence for some time. He expected the silence to dissipate some of that tenseness in Genji’s posture, but instead it seemed to further agitate him. Hanzo looked at him. He was just outlines of red cracks of light in the dark, like a body about to explode from the inside. “Sorry,” Hanzo said again. He saw Genji’s knuckles tighten. He wondered for a moment if his brother was going to hit him.

 

“What for?” Genji tried to sound casual, but Hanzo could hear all the desperation and worry choked up in his voice.

 

It was strangely easy to say just then. Because the apology didn’t have anything to do with forgiving himself: it was all for Genji, that afraid boy who just wanted to be with him and be like him.

 

“For trying to kill you. For ever thinking it was an appropriate measure to hurt the one person I ought always to have looked out for.”

 

Red eyes turned to him. In the dark, Hanzo could read nothing more in them. The red eyes turned away from him again and looked out into the darkness. He could hear Genji’s breathing get rougher and more unsteady. He pretended he couldn’t hear those tears and instead remained quiet. He also pretended he couldn’t see the red lit hand coming up to wipe away at eyes quickly. There was a slight sniff and a swallow, and then just quiet ragged breathing.

 

Hanzo bowed his head, scolding himself for not having done that sooner. There was a sharp tug at his arm, and for a moment he was jolted back into his dream, and the tearful pleas of his brother.

 

“Over there,” Genji whispered, his voice professional despite still being raw with emotion.

 

Hanzo’s eyes snapped up. A single red light was moving slowly up the valley.

 

“A drone like the one we saw earlier?”

 

Hanzo nodded and pulled out his bow. He strung it silently.

 

“If you shoot it down, won’t it alert the base?”

 

“Possibly. But there’s no telling the range of its scanners, and we certainly don’t want it relaying detailed information back.”

 

Genji nodded in agreement. Hanzo licked a finger and tested the air. The wind was just strong enough to require a more measured calculation. It was coming in from the west, up the valley. The drone’s path was at least even, making it relatively predictable where it might move next. He let his arrow fly. It vanished into the darkness almost immediately after it was loosed. The only evidence that it hit its mark was the sudden descent the red light took, its light flickering out as it fell. There was no noise at all, even as it fell, marking it as some distance off.

 

“Impressive,” Genji said. Hanzo was pleased to hear a little awe still in his brother’s voice.

 

“I strive for perfection.”

 

“Uh huh, sure. I’m going to go strive to retrieve that drone so that we can do something useful with it. Probably best if you stay here, you’ll only slow me down otherwise.”

 

“I see,” Hanzo said coolly, “you won’t be wanting a sonic arrow to find it then, I assume.”

 

Genji hesitated.

 

Hanzo gave a wry smile and notched a second arrow onto his bow, flicking on its sonic beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was sitting for ages trying to think of a cool base for Null Sector, but then I was like what the hell I’ve set it in Yamagata now, I might as well just use what I remember. Last summer I walked up Haguro-san, which has a beautiful five story pagoda at the bottom and a diverted waterfall nearby. I can’t say for certain that there’s a secret omnic supremicist group hiding behind that waterfall, but then again, who can? ;)
> 
> PS. I'd appreciate your thoughts on whether this story should have the M/M tag rather than Gen. Originally I'd put Gen as Gabe and Jack's relationship isn't the focus of the story, but now I'm wondering if it's enough of a subsidiary plot to warrent the tag. I don't want to disappoint people who come looking for a romance story though, or put off people who are looking for a story about brothers having a heart to heart. Any thoughts?


	26. Infiltration

“Huh.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Nothing. Just, the sun coming up. It’s quite something.”

 

“Describe it to me.”

 

“I can send you a photo.”

 

“No… I… I want to hear you describe it.”

 

Reyes sighed and leaned back. He swiped his beanie off his head and ran his hand back through his hair. The air was damp with dew.

 

“Well, it’s just rising through the mountains. Everything looking east is black silhouette. The shadows in the valleys are long, but there’s colour just touching the place where the sun is coming in strong. There’s a heavy mist too: it’s filled up the valleys and turning silver now. And there’s a slight wind – it keeps turning the mist like eddies in a river.”

 

“Gabriel Reyes,” said the voice on the other end of his comm.

 

“What?” Reyes asked guardedly.

 

“You _are_ a romantic, after all.”

 

Reyes grumbled, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the others,

 

“Only for you.”

 

“Hmmmm.” Jack sounded pleased by that.

 

“It’s nice not needing an excuse to call you,” Reyes said, letting his eyes stray across the serenity of the landscape, “I’ve missed this.”

 

“You never needed an excuse, you just managed to convince yourself you did.” There was quiet after that, then Jack added, “I’ve missed it too.”

 

Gabriel smiled even though no one could see. He turned over a broken drone in his hands. An arrow protruded from its single shattered eye.

 

“How’ve you been doing? Sleeping better?”

 

“Yes, actually. A lot better. I’ve felt… rested for the first time in a long time. Peaceful.”

 

“Ah. Probably because I’m not there to wind you up,” Reyes grimaced and gave a stunted laugh.

 

“No, I was feeling pretty anxious right up until you started calling me more regularly. You make me feel calm. And like I can get things into perspective. Things don’t feel so unmanageable when I know you’re just a phonecall away.”

 

Reyes blinked,

 

“Now who’s the romantic.” He heard Jack laugh: it was a small, genuine one, not a bitter one or a nervous one.

 

“I guess I hadn’t realised how much all this was getting to me. There are so many things to juggle. I think I was beginning to feel adrift at sea. Ana kept telling me to discuss it with you, but I was worried I’d say the wrong thing and push you away again.”

 

“Well, in fairness to you, I have been a bit of a dick for the last-”

 

“Fifteen years?”

 

“Watch it, Morrison.”

 

Jack laughed again and this time Reyes joined him. After the laughter died down, Jack’s tone became serious.

 

“I want to do this right this time, Gabe. And I’ve been thinking… about what drove us apart all those years ago.” Reyes drew in his breath. He wasn’t sure this was the time or place to have this discussion, but Jack was always one to go straight for the bullseye when it came to honesty and hard truths. “I was selfish and thoughtless. I should have seen that the promotion was just a way to divide us and make us toe a line. I should have seen that what they did to you was unfair. I should have been the loudest person on your side, and instead I thought only of myself and my ambition. I was so blinded by the honour being offered to me, that I never stopped to think what it would do to our relationship.”

 

“Jackie-”

 

“No, wait. I’m not done. I’ve… I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of days. And… and I’m ready to do what I should have done all those years ago. I’m going to go to the UN and tell them Overwatch should be yours. It was always yours, and never mine. And I know it’s so goddamn late, but I’ve had this toxic thing growing in me for so long, knowing I never should have taken this, it will be such a relief to let it go, to have my old CO back, to-”

 

“Jack Morrison, don’t you dare,” Reyes tried to keep his voice from raising, glancing at the tents around him in the hope that he hadn’t woken anyone. “Yes, I was bitter when the UN made you Strike Commander and took that title away from me, but you don’t seriously think I’m still mad about that after all these years, do you?” OK, maybe that was a little untrue. He did regularly walk around muttering about the unfairness of it all. “I was angry at the UN, not you. I was proud for you. You’d served under me for all those years – you have people working under you now – surely you can understand: the only thing better than getting a promotion yourself, is it being given to someone you helped train. It’s the validation that you did a good job. I was always proud that they offered you that, Jack. And, once my temper had simmered down a bit, I could even see that the UN had made a good decision. Overwatch changed after the Crisis, and it needed a different kind of leadership. Your kind of leadership.”

 

“B-but…” He could hear Jack trying to sort out the emotion in his voice, “b-but you were so angry. For… for _years_ … Even just before you left you were…”

 

“I was angry,” Reyes admitted, “but not about that.”

 

“What then?”

 

Reyes scratched his chin. He chewed his lip. The disc of the sun slid burning into view, flashing off the coiling mist in a dazzling sheen of silver white.

 

“That stuff you said last time. That stuff about Blackwatch. That stuff about me having to be the ruthless one. The one people hand all the dirty laundry to and act like it was mine all along. It’s… it’s been wearing me down for a long time now. I guess, I’ve just started to embrace it. But every unpleasant decision I make, y’know, it makes the next one that bit easier to make. There’s stuff that… that doesn’t affect me any more, even though I know it used to. I do things… terrible things, and I sleep easy at night. I guess, I’m worried that I’m losing myself. Or worse, that this is who I was all along.”

 

“Gabriel…” Jack’s voice was injured, like Gabriel had stabbed him. He felt guilty for having caused that pain. “I’m so sorry. And I’m so sorry I didn’t see it before, and that I haven’t supported you or helped you. I swear I’ll make it up to you. We’ll sort this out, the two of us.”

 

Gabriel gave a slightly relieved smile, but it still didn’t chase all the shadows from his mind.

 

“But, what if it’s too late? What if I’m already… It’s just being a soldier right? Just following orders? But I make the orders up, Jack. They give me a blank slate and turn a blind eye, and… I _am_ that ruthless person they always thought I was. I’ve gotten so used to being able to cut corners and use lethal force as an immediate solution-”

 

“Gabe,” Jack’s voice was soft, soothing, “we’re going to figure this out, okay? We’re going to do this together. We’ve been doing this shit alone for too long. _I_ know who you are, okay? You’re not just a hired killer for the UN, you’re the man I love. Remember that, alright?”

 

Gabriel was quiet. He was a lot more than a hired killer for the UN. There were files even Jack hadn’t seen, sent direct to secretive UN offices where they were read and promptly burned. And there was a lot worse than being a killer. Gabriel had been all of those things. There wasn’t much he hadn’t had a hand in, and there weren’t many lines he hadn’t crossed. But even through all that, he’d always valued Jack’s judgement. If Jack saw something more in him, then he was going to just have to trust that for now.

 

“Okay,” he said quietly.

 

“Finish this stuff up as soon as you can. I can’t stop thinking of you. I want you here beside me.”

 

“It’s gonna be a pretty intense first date, huh.” Gabriel mused.

 

“I’m not sure it can accurately be called a first date, when we’ve known each other over half our lives, and already dated before. And a good thing too, because you’re flirting is terrible. You said some dirty stuff in Spanish and all your wooing since then has been throwing Blackwatch case files in my face in an effort to make me abandon you.”

 

“What can I say? I was a goth kid – scars and angst are part of my mysterious tragic appeal.”

 

“I’m a tiny bit scared that that sentence might have been said in all seriousness.”

 

“At least I _have_ an aesthetic. What have _you_ got, Morrison?”

 

“You tell me, you’re the one who wants it.”

 

“A nice ass.”

 

“ _OK._ I’m going to go to bed now, because I’m fairly certain your shift is up and that Ana will wake soon, and I _really_ don’t need her listening into your one-sided conversations.”

 

“Huh, and just as I was getting going. Who knew my seductive side was at it’s most active at six A.M.”

 

“Hanging up now, okay! Night, Gabe!”

 

“Night, gorgeous.”

 

He heard the strangled noise of embarrassment Jack made and smiled wickedly. He was still smiling as he set up the solar stove and began frying up ORCA rations with whatever else edible he could find. He was even smiling when Ana crawled out the tent, bleary eyed, awakened by the smell of food.

 

“Your kid snores,” she complained.

 

“Jesse? Haha no he doesn’t, that was you.”

 

Ana glared at him, ordinarily a terrifying thing with her eagle precision gaze. Just now she was too laden with sleep to be threatening.

 

“He woke me up with his snoring.”

 

“You woke yourself up with your snoring,” Reyes said lightly.

 

She grumbled and sat down next to him,

 

“You’re in a good mood.”

 

Reyes shifted his spatula about the pan,

 

“It’s these rehydrated protein packs and wild garlic, they’re doing wonders for my naturally bad temper.”

 

“Reydrated protein pack? Morrison know that’s what you’re calling him these days?”

 

Reyes glared at her. Ana had an uncanny and irritating ability to know everything, even whilst still half asleep apparently. She chuckled slightly and filled up a kettle with water from a canteen.

 

“You finished? I want to put some tea on.” She hovered at his elbow with the kettle.

 

“Does it look like I’m finished?!”

 

“Call rehydrated protein pack back up, your foul temper’s putting in an appearance again.”

 

“Wonder why that is.”

 

Gradually Genji, Hanzo, and Jesse joined them, all looking various stages of tired.

 

Ana prepared green tea the way Hanzo had showed her and offered him a cup, he bowed his head gratefully as he received it, immediately looking happier. She offered Genji one too, who took it hesitantly and held it in his hands until he thought no one was watching, then slurped it up through a pipe. Jesse was just blinking stupidly in the light, making occasional unhappy noises and edging closer to Reyes until Reyes finally made a pot of coffee and handed him a cup.

 

“Thank-you thank-you thank-you,” Jesse murmured and drank deeply, holding the warm cup to him and letting the steam rise against his cold cheek.

 

“So, Hanzo,” Reyes said, once everyone had a warm drink in their hand and food in a plastic bowl, “Tell me about this.” Reyes nudged the drone with an arrow sticking out of it. Only Jesse squinted at it in confusion, as it had been shot down after his shift.

 

“I shot it down,” Hanzo said simply, “Genji fetched it.”

 

Reyes frowned at Genji,

 

“You _did_ get some sleep, right?”

 

“Yes, Commander. I was awake for Hanzo’s shift too, but I slept after that. The drone was making no noises when I retrieved it, so I assumed it was safe to bring back here.”

 

“Does seem pretty dead. I wired it up earlier and pulled it’s memory bank. Seems it was periodically wiped though, so all I got was some pretty aerial views of the valley.”

 

“Can I take a look?” Genji said, a little uncertain of himself.

 

Reyes handed the drone over,

 

“Careful.”

 

Genji nodded. There were a lot of eyes on him. His fingers twitched in agitation. He took the drone and slunk back into the privacy of his tent. The drone was the size of a small melon, spherical, save for a more oblong eye that Hanzo’s arrow had shattered, and a set of x-shaped wings that propelled the small body. He unclasped a hatch on the back of the drone and drew forth a single wire from within it. He reached around the back of his spine and plugged the little wire into himself.

 

Immediately there was a jumble of confused information. He was aware of the aerial footage the commander had mentioned, though to say he saw it was not quite correct. He was aware of having experienced it, along with a stream of constant data that the little machine had been relaying back to its command centre. The stream stopped abruptly at around 2 A.M, when Hanzo had shot it down. Genji mentally probed it’s operating system and the thing flopped before his superior software. He studied the data stream for a little longer, before setting up a message mimicking those that had been sent before.

 

_> System malfunction. Altitude lost 02:03. System reboot and fix completed 06:34. Malfunction analysis: maintenance error, unable to complete route, mobility not possible. _

 

He relaxed, pleased with the addition, hoping it was sent quick enough that the base was not suspicious of the drone’s absence.

 

_> D-195 what are your coordinates? we’ll send someone to fetch you._

 

Genji blinked. He’d assumed such a small machine as this would be abandoned, not that a search party would be sent out. Also, what was with that way of writing? In his (admittedly limited) experience that was not the way Omnics tended to communicate.

 

Genji quickly pulled up the last of the drone’s footage and quoted the coordinates back. That was when he felt it: something stretching, like thin whispery fingers, sorting, nudging aside his thoughts and carding through them gently. There was a pressure in his skull, and a dull aching. He found his thoughts muddling slightly, and he had to blink repeatedly. The next line of text he received wasn’t in the same format as that received via the droid. It came up without interface, direct across his vision:

 

_And who do we have here?_

 

Genji yanked the wire out of his spine, breathing hard. He scrabbled out his tent and back to the others. Genji grabbed his brother’s arm. Hanzo’s eyes moved to him, concerned.

 

“There’s-… it…!” He threw the drone away from him.

 

“Genji?” Reyes’s expression were dark, “what is it?”

 

“I…” Genji blinked, trying to purge the memory of the intrusion from him. “I sent a message explaining the drone’s absence, so that it wouldn’t count as missing. It received one back, asking for co-ordinates. I gave the co-ordinates it was downed at, thinking we could lure out some omnics and at least have more of a sense of what we were up against. But… something…” he touched his head, “was trying to get inside my head. It…” He gripped Hanzo’s arm tighter, “l-like a worm. Trying to get in.”

 

“I said be careful,” Reyes growled, but he looked more worried than annoyed, “has it gone? Or are you compromised?”

 

“I-It’s gone, I think. But it wasn’t the drone that was doing this. I don’t understand how it was able to move so quickly from that drone to my head. How did it know I was inside the drone? I don’t want to touch any more things like that around here. I don’t want it to get me again.” _What if it could take over? What if it could hack my augments and control the cyber parts of me?_ He didn’t say that though, because he was much too afraid of what might be done to him were he to admit that.

 

“Are you sure?” Reyes frowned at him, noticing that Genji was holding back on him.

 

“He said he was sure,” Hanzo snapped, “what more do you want from him?”

 

Reyes’ eyes flicked to Hanzo, frowned, but left the subject. He instead asked,

 

“Think you can put this drone back where you picked it up, Genji? Then we can hopefully spring this ambush.”

 

Genji nodded. He breathed out a shaky breath and realised he was still holding onto Hanzo’s arm. He let go and murmured a quiet thanks in his native tongue for the intervention.

***

The drone had been retrieved not far from a river. It was shallow and riddled with smooth, coloured pebbles. The thick dark roots of red cedars wound through the soft clods of earth binding its banks. The brook babbled as it bounced, chiming with the faint buzz of insects and distant call of birds. They were positioned in an ambush formation, but Reyes had given the order to observe only. The longer they could delay revealing their presence the more information they could gather. Reyes and Ana took the scrub on the north side of the river. They also had eyes on McCree who was crouched in cover on the south bank. In the trees above them, Genji and Hanzo had taken up position.

 

They held a perfect quiet like that for a full half an hour. Genji felt a finger tap his bare arm, he glanced at his brother, who then pointed to his ear then towards the edge of the clearing where the trees gave way for the river. He notched and arrow and flicked on its sonic beacon. With an almost imperceptible twang of his bow string, he let the shot fire. The sonar lit up the forest before them in waves that rippled out in a sphere from the beacon. Two bulky figures showed up red in the sphere, stepping hesitantly in their direction.

 

Reyes’ voice whispered in their comms,

 

“One Nulltrooper and an Eradicator. Can see by the silhouettes. Do not engage.”

 

The whir of machinery was more audible now. One of the figures stopped behind a tree, position still marked by Hanzo’s arrow. The other walked cautiously into the little clearing they were covering. It was a bipedal, slit eyed Omnic, almost identical to the one Genji had sliced up in the Yaushiro tower, down to the violet and black paint coating. The omnic trained its gun arm, whirring in multiple directions whilst edging forward. It stopped before the chassis of the downed drone, tiny next to its towering figure. They’d removed Hanzo’s arrow from the drone, leaving its fate ambiguous. The Nulltrooper lowered itself slowly and picked up the drone almost tenderly in its hand. It brought the drone up to its eye level, inspecting it. It turned its head back toward the cover of the treeline where its companion waited. It made no noise. It cradled the downed drone to its chest, then after a moment stamped back the way it had come. Genji watched it, his insides an uncomfortable swirl of emotion. He managed to catch the commander’s signal below them though – _follow._

 

Genji leapt lightly to the next tree, one step in front of his brother. He kept his eyes on the omnics below, treading a treetop path that allowed him to stay close and unnoticed. He only stopped when the old cedars thinned, giving way to a clear plunge pool, fed by a white waterfall, and framed by a shrine nestled under a steep cliff face. Here the soft chirp of birdsong was downed out by the rush of falling water. Genji was surprised to see a brightly painted red bridge arching over the river, providing easy access to the simple curling roofed shrine with its plain wood walls and shuttered doors. The omnics took the red bridge, walked passed the shrine, then flattened themselves against the cliff face, side stepping behind the waterfall. Genji wasn’t the only one who didn’t like getting his mechanical parts wet then. He blinked that thought away quickly. It didn’t do his head good to point out similarities between himself and the omnics they were hunting.

 

He spoke softly on his comm once the omnics were gone.

 

“They went in by the waterfall entrance. Your orders, Commander?”

 

“Hold your position.”

 

Genji waited until the others caught up with him. They each took up a new position in cover, with views of the waterfall and pool. Reyes signalled for another of Hanzo’s arrows. When no shapes lit up, Reyes sent Genji in.

 

Genji mimicked the way the omnics had entered, taking care not to let more than a fine dash of spray touch his armour. Water thundered in his ears, throwing off his senses as he moved into the passage beyond. He splayed his metal toes, letting his weight spread and the sound of his footsteps dissipate. A panel in his arm slid back and a set of three shuriken rolled out of a compartment in his wrist and settled between his fingers. The passage opened onto a wider natural cave, damp and uneven underfoot. Genji jumped and landed lightly on a high rock ledge, giving himself a view down into the cave. A narrow hewn doorway was the cave’s only other exit. He couldn’t get a good look through it from here. He frowned. On past missions he was never this cautious, favouring dropping down and running straight in. That kind of recklessness stemmed from a complete disregard for what became of him. For some reason, he wasn’t feeling quite so reckless this time.

 

“Hanzo,” he whispered through his comm, “I need another arrow.”

 

There was a moment’s quiet as the others outside no doubt exchanged visible signals.

 

“Go,” Reyes said at last.

 

Genji waited. He watched Hanzo hesitantly enter the cave, then quickly climb up the rockface to join him on his ledge. Wordlessly, Hanzo fired off another sonic arrow. Genji dropped down, watching for a moment to see if any figures walked into the sonar radius. He moved hesitantly through the doorway. The passage was long and dark. He could see the edge of the faintly pulsing perimeter of the radar. Beyond that line he would be alone again.

 

He flattened himself against the wall as he moved beyond the safety net of the radar. The passage bent slightly, curling so that he could not see back the way he had come. He brushed the rock with his fingers as he walked, lights dimmed until they only faintly illuminated the passage. Water dripped down the black rock and slimy mosses squidged under his fingers. A rectangle of dim light appeared before him. His passage gave way abruptly to a raised metal platform in an enormous hangar.

 

Genji immediately crouched so that he was obscured by the low barrier encircling his platform. Over to his right, the two omnics carrying the downed drone were descending via an open lift to the hangar floor. Now that Genji had a moment, he surveyed the hangar. It was a mash of natural rock and precision engineering, with stalactites stretching long claws down from above and towering machines protruding up from the ground. Genji squinted at the machines, it was hard to distinguish those with more basic, static functions from the omnics around them. He could see a conveyor belt with thick powerlines lying like yellow snakes along the hangar floor. Whirring mechanical arms busied themselves drilling and soldering, tiny sparks flying every time they turned their attention to a new chunk of metal lying on the conveyor belt.

 

Genji scanned the room for exits. Other than the narrow passage he’d entered by, the most light was coming from a low square at very far end of the hangar. The light there was white enough to be daylight rather than artificial, meaning it might be the other entrance Hanzo and Ana found yesterday. Another doorway was set over to his left. This one was bordered by a steel frame, and from what Genji could see of the corridor sloping beyond, it, too, was lined with dull matte steel. The yellow powerlines slithered through his door and vanished beyond Genji’s sight. He really wanted a look through that door. His eyes followed a double set of pipes clutching the wall nearby him. They wound round most the circumference of the room and could provide a walkway, though a very exposed one. Just as he was beginning to contemplate the move, he heard a thrumming in the air, he glanced up and saw another small drone buzzing above him. It’s red slit eye was swung towards the right. Genji was lucky he hadn’t already been seen. He decided not to tempt fate a second time. While the drone was turned away, he ducked back into the dark rock passage.

 

He saw Hanzo’s face register relief when he returned to him. Genji nodded to him and together they departed the hideout silently. Genji forgot about the waterfall at the end and managed to drench himself as he stepped out into the sunlight. He cursed profusely and waded through the plunge pool and back up onto the bank, rigorously trying to shake water from him.

 

Reyes and the others took that as a cue to emerge from cover.

***

Genji lay sprawled in the afternoon sun, trying to dry off. His scars were itching madly and made him twist in discomfort on the ground.

 

“Captain, can’t I just have _one_ of your biotic darts?”

 

“Those drugs are not to be misused, Genji Shimada.”

 

Hanzo scoffed lightly, but kept his amusement to himself. Genji glared at him, then tilted his head back toward Ana again,

 

“It’s not a _misuse_ , Captain, they make me feel calm and relaxed and right now I’m… _urgh._ ” He clawed at the thick, red, shiny, scar tissue across his chest.

 

“Stop itching it,” Ana said irritably.

 

“So, make me?” Genji suggested.

 

“Gabriel?” Ana gestured to Reyes.

 

Reyes pulled a shotgun from its holster on his leg and tossed it, catching it by its barrel so that its grip could be wielded like a hammer,

 

“It’d be my pleasure.”

 

“W-What! No no no,” Genji scrabbled away, back towards his tent and his brother, “I meant with a tranquilliser or one of those darts, not… _that!”_ His eyes were fixed on the menacing shotgun handle.

 

Ana flashed him a wicked grin. Genji glowered at them, and made sure he put Hanzo between himself at the commander.

 

“You’re jokes are not very funny, Captain,” Genji muttered at Ana. Ana seemed to think she was very funny. So did Jesse, who was tittering whilst he boiled water on the solar stove.

 

“So,” Reyes seated himself again and stowed his shotgun. He picked up his datapad and pulled the plan they’d been working on up out of the screen. He enlarged it so that it filled their small camp. “You reckon over this side is the entrance Hanzo and Ana found. If that’s true, it’s going to be a lot easier to approach than all those narrow corridors you took today. There are far too many choke points and blind spots for that to be a good approach.” Reyes pondered for a moment, “Genji, I want a run down on all the types of Omnic you saw.”

 

“Uh… I don’t know that much about different types.”

 

“So describe them. You’ve got that photographic memory thing, right?”

 

“R…right,” Genji agreed uncertainly.

 

Genji closed his eyes, he let his memory roll backwards. It was a bizarre sensation and usually something that only happened unintentionally – like in his dreams. It was less like rewinding a video and more like being dumped back in that moment, immersive and yet also disconnected, powerless to change anything or move, and yet free to slow the moments down and scrutinise details that previously passed him by.

 

He was back in the hangar. He paused his vision, expanding and zooming in on the Omnics working on the hangar floor. He let the scene wind forward slowly. The sounds were deeper with the slowing of time. He became aware of the buzz of the drone above much sooner than he had in real life. He tried to glance up to look at it, but his vision was fixed forward, a captive to his past choices. He reluctantly refocussed on what he could, trying not to let the feeling of being frozen and caged overwhelm his senses.

 

“Lots walking on two legs,” he said, “like the ones we saw in the forest earlier. Some with much bigger rifles… Did you call them Eradicators?”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Some were weirder shapes though. Kinda of round? And hovering.”

 

“Detonators? Damn.”

 

“And drones flying overhead. I think that was it, but it’s not always clear what’s an omnic and what’s a non-sentient machine.” Genji opened his eyes. The vivid recollections faded and their little camp returned to his vision.

 

“Right, go again. Tell me numbers this time,” Reyes said. Genji pulled a face. “Get a move on, Shimada.”

 

“It… it’s not easy you know. And it’s draining. Like being trapped in a-”

 

“Yeah, save it for Ziegler’s pysch-eval. I want numbers.”

 

Genji glowered at the commander and closed his eyes again. He could hear the kettle starting to whistle, and Jesse gingerly lifting it from the stove, exclaiming as the hot steam burned his fingers. Genji frowned and tried to concentrate. It was harder this time to think back to the exact moment he was looking for. He focussed on the memory of the two omnics disappearing behind the waterfall, slowing his thought to follow them again. He frowned: the memory slowed but kept rolling in reverse. He gritted his teeth in irritation as the bizarre image of him following the omnics through the wood rewound. He was leaping backwards along the treetops, he was standing next to Hanzo, he was watching the Nulltrooper set down the drone, he was picking up the drone he was walking backwards up the hill, he was sitting at the camp, he was talking in reverse – it was a garbled unsettling stunted sound – he was grabbing the drone, he was plugging a wire from the drone into his head, he was

 

_And who do we have here?_

 

_Fuck,_ Genji thought, because that previous thought had not been his.

 

_We were hoping that we might speak to you again._

 

_Fuck, fuck, fuck,_ because that sentence had never happened in his memory, which meant it was live.

 

_Interesting. You’re something very different to what we are used to._

 

_Get out of my head!_

 

_And after you so nicely invited us in? That won’t do at all. I think we will stay a while, reviewing archive data, were you? Don’t mind if we do. Perhaps we can learn something about who, and what, and where, you are. Now, let’s see-_

 

_EURGHH!_ Genji snapped his eyes open. He yanked a cable out the back of his spine and thrust it straight into the powercells of the solar oven. His body jerked with the sudden shock, and his vision went white.

***

When he came to, he could hear a heartbeat, solid and comforting. It reminded him of being at home. In winter, the snow dampened all sound, and the wood of Shimada Castle became like an insulated drum. All sounds within it became more muted, warm, and homely next to the heavy thick snowfall outside.

 

Gradually, Genji realised he could also hear voices. They were raised, angry, different pitches and timbres breaking into each other and spitting bitter. His eyes flickered open. His brother was above him. He instinctively relaxed. He realised Hanzo had his arms about him, dragging his body to him and clutching him close. Genji could see the intricate detail on the tattooed scales of the dragon inked all over his brother’s arm. His body language was all bent and possessive like a wild animal standing over its litter. Hanzo was raging hellfire at the commander who sounded like he was giving as good as he was getting.

 

“Hanzo?” Genji murmured. That shut the argument up. He realised guiltily that the sky overhead was dark and stars had come out.

 

_19:01_ _| Download at 86.62%_

 

Hanzo loosened his grip, allowing Genji to sit up slowly. Genji frowned at the protective hand that stayed on his shoulder, but decided to focus on blinking away the spots of light still scattering on his vision.

 

“Genji...” Genji looked up. The commander looked upset, but like he was maybe trying to keep his cool. “What happened? Are you alright?”

 

Genji tested his thoughts, probing for intrusions and unwanted presences.

 

“I’m okay,” he was still a little uncertain himself. “I think I got rid of it.”

 

Reyes looked like he wanted to come closer, but the hand on Genji’s shoulder tightened. Reyes hesitated, then elected to stay put,

 

“Got rid of what?”

 

Genji frowned,

 

“The super invasive hive-mind AI controlling all the omnics in that hideout.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to write a sweet gentle conversation between Jack and Gabe, but these angry lads got so much baggage clinging to them that they have to break down and give each other a therapy session everytime they pick up a call.
> 
> Also I am McCree without coffee. And also Hanzo when people mess with my little siblings. 
> 
> Thanks very much for your suggestions on what to tag this story as, your thoughts were really useful. I think I'm going to go ahead and leave it as Gen for now, as lots of you pointed out that that still works and helps people to know the r76 isn't the main focus of the story without disappointing anyone. Thanks also for your kind comments! Moving into the climax of this story now!


	27. Of Gods and Men

That night Genji was restless and afraid to sleep. He knew in his dreams his mind sometimes slunk unbidden to old memories, flicking through them like magazines in a waiting room. If there was a chance that the AI could reach across to him when he re-accessed the memory where he’d wired himself into that drone, then he couldn’t risk sleeping. He drew his hands up to his chest, clenching his fists and staring straight up at the canvas of his tent.

 

“You’re so tense it’s keeping me awake.”

 

“Sorry,” Genji said quickly. He tried to relax his shoulders, but his arm simply trembled in protest. He took a shaky breath and tried to dispel his worries.

 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Genji glanced to his left. Hanzo was cast in shadow, nestled deep in a sleeping bag.

 

“I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’ll leave you in peace.” Genji made to get up, but Hanzo rolled over and fixed him with a look. Genji laid back down under that scrutiny. He looked straight back up at the roof of the tent. “I… I don’t want that thing to get me when my guard is down,” he whispered. His fingers clenched and unclenched. His voice dropped lower, “a-and I’m afraid of… of what the others might do if I get taken over by an omnic.”

 

Hanzo patted down the puff of his sleeping bag so that he could give Genji a look full of scepticism.

 

“What do you mean ‘what they might _do_ to you’. These people are your colleagues. They care for you deeply.”

 

“B-but when it comes to things like omnics, they’re very… it’s their job, you know – to get rid of them. A-and if I slipped over into that… category.”

 

“You are nothing like the creatures they are hunting.”

 

“But… I am a _bit._ And… they don’t really see a different between these Null Sector omnics, and other omnics.”

 

“You are not an _omnic,_ Genji. Even if this artificial intelligence you are so worried about did somehow affect you, you would be no less who you are now.”

 

“A-are you sure? What if it took over my m-motor functions. Turned me against everyone. They’d just be doing their job if they…”

 

“No one is going to hurt you. If that was ever their chosen course of action – which in itself is a preposterous and paranoid idea – then I myself would stand in their way.”

 

Genji turned onto his side, his red eyes wide and uncertain as he looked at his brother.

 

“Y-you would?”

 

“Of course!” Hanzo still managed to sound aloof and imperious even while curled up in bed with a feather from his sleeping bag stuck to his beard. “What do I owe these fools and their international warmongering?! If they seek to raise their hand against the Shimada, then they will know the full force of our vengeance.”

 

Genji quieted at that, warmed by the protective anger in Hanzo’s voice. A quiet lapsed between them. Genji wondered if his brother had fallen asleep. He spoke softly, hoping not to wake him if he had.

 

“Does… does this mean I’m allowed to count as your family again?”

 

Silence persisted. Just as Genji was about to turn back over, Hanzo spoke. His voice was gruffer than usual.

 

“You were always my family.”

 

Genji frowned,

 

“But you said-”

 

“I said a great many things over the last two decades. None of that will ever change that you were always my family, and always dearest to me.”

 

Genji didn’t know what to say to that. He blinked uncertainly. He could feel tears prickling in his eyes. His shoulders untensed and he let his arms fall to his sides. He glanced down at his strange body, glowing faint red lines in the dark.

 

“I’m just… I’m just worried that I won’t be what they want me to be. That they’ll realise that I’m a liability they need to get rid of. I’m afraid they’ll-”

 

“Betray you?”

 

Genji glanced at Hanzo, expecting to see his usual disinterest, instead, a strange expression lingered on his face.

 

“You are being unreasonable to them,” Hanzo’s voice was quiet and earnest. “Those fears do not belong to their actions but to mine. I have hurt you. Made it hard for you to trust.”

 

“Th-this isn’t about that.”

 

“I assure you, it is. Listen to yourself.”

 

Genji hesitated. It was possible what Hanzo said was true, but that didn’t make his worries feel any less real. He wished he’d taken Doctor Ziegler up on all those opportunities she’d offered to talk through the repressed hurt and hate smouldering inside him. Now that there was a carousel of emotions, he was left floundering, unsure what to grasp on to.

 

“You think they’d try and help me even if I… exhibited… c-compromised behaviour?”

 

“I know it. Especially that Jesse McCree. He’s a good man.”

 

“Jesse?” Genji’s eyes widened, “I thought you hated, Jesse. What happened to you saying he had zero manners and zero culture and-”

 

Hanzo made an impatient clicking noise with his tongue,

 

“He is exceptionally irritating, but that does not mean I cannot acknowledge him to be a good man. I am grateful for the friendship he has extended to you, and for taking care of you where I so miserably failed.”

 

Genji shut up. That was the second time Hanzo had expressed fondness for him in less than ten minutes. Who knew the secret to brotherly bonding was surviving a fratricide attempt, joining a paramilitary task force, and camping out under the stars whilst fearing an imminent cyber attack.

 

“You’re being uncharacteristically charitable,” Genji pointed out. Hanzo let out a _hmph_ at that, but nothing more. “If I’d known you were going to start being nice to me, I’d have arranged for us to have karaoke night together in Akita. McCree could have joined us and you could have sung his praises in a public show of-”

 

The winter cold of Hanzo’s glare shut him up, but Genji still grinned.

 

He heard Hanzo mutter something like ‘relentlessly childish’, before turning over onto his side.

 

“I’m glad you decided to work with Overwatch on this case.” Genji spoke again into the dark. “Everyone else only knows me as the guy who survived an…” he’d been going to say accident, but that wasn’t strictly true, was it. “As the guy who survived. Spending time near you makes me feel more like me, and less like… whatever it was that crawled out of our last encounter.”

 

Hanzo didn’t turn back. When he spoke it was flat and emotionless.

 

“Spending time with you reminds me that these moments are stolen, and not mine to share in. It reminds me that your attempts to put the past behind us are childish, and that having you joke and smile and be trusting near me is a selfish desire on my part to escape the guilt that I rightly bear.”

 

Genji tugged his brother’s arm, pulling him back to look at him. Hanzo’s face was dark and serious and cold again.

 

“Wow, you really don’t stop do you. Firmly entrenched in your bitterness, aren’t you, big brother.”

 

“What do y- _oof!_ ” Hanzo scowled as Genji flopped on his middle, “kindly get off me,” he bit off.

 

“Just lighten up for a change. You’re always so serious.”

 

“And you are heavy. Move.”

 

Genji moved most of his weight off him, but left his head resting against his brother’s chest. The soft fibre of the sleeping bag was against Genji’s cheek, downy and comfortable.

 

“I’m not a pillow, Shimada Genji.”

 

“Hm. True, but neither are you as hard and cold as you always make out.” Genji was surprised when a rough hand didn’t shove him off. He closed his eyes. He could feel his brother’s steady heartbeat reverberating in his skull. Tension Genji hadn’t realised was coiled in him unwound. He breathed out slowly. When he slept it was dreamless and peaceful.

***

Reyes handed them all cold ration packs that morning. Genji took a vindictive delight in watching everyone else have to squeeze unappetising foot into them the way he had to every day.

 

“The new plan is this:” Reyes drew the 3D blueprint out of his datapad and swivelled it so that the far entrance faced him, “we’re going in here, and we’re looking for the biggest power source we can. If Genji’s right, we could be up against a God Program here.”

 

Ana shifted with unease. McCree frowned. He’d been working with Reyes for nearly ten years and never head of a ‘god program’ before.

 

“What’s a one of them, Boss?”

 

“A hypothesis we’ve been working with for some time. During the Crisis we had waves of omnics with minimal calculated levels of intelligence and sentience, coordinating beautifully and mowing down our people like machine guns at a bowling alley, _piñatas en un campo de batalla_.” Reyes smiled, but it was humourless. “We posited that there could be a higher order intelligence directing them. Something like the idea Genji just described.”

 

“I don’t think the individual omnics are less intelligent though, Commander, I just think there might be only one thing doing the thinking in lots of different bodies. The voice I heard in my head might belong to the same consciousness that spoke to me in the Yaushiro-”

 

“Beeped at you, you mean,” McCree added with a slightly wry smile.

 

“Genji, to be honest, I don’t give a fuck what it is,” Reyes cut through both of them, “the only good thing about this info is that it’s controlled by a centralised hub, which mean we only have to cut its head off and the rest of these shitbags will drop dead.” Reyes folded his arms. “Our enemy will be co-ordinated and well organised, but all we need to do is shotgun the head honcho and we’ll be back to Gibraltar before you can say ‘I’m dating the Strike Commander and if I hear any more jibes about it you’ll have a bullet between your teeth’, _entiendes_?”

 

“Hoooly shii-”

 

“ _¿Entiendes, Jesse McCree?”_

 

“Yep, Boss, sure, uh huh.”

 

“Wait, what-” That was Genji catching on too slow.

 

Hanzo merely folded his arms in silence. Ana let out a long sigh.

 

“Right,” Reyes cracked his knuckles, “Hanzo and Ana, you’re my back team. Genji and Jesse, you’re with me. Snipers cover the door as we approach. Forward team take up positions inside. Once we’ve secured the doorway, Hanzo forward, and find a spot and cover the hangar. Genji you said this doorway on the side is the one place you didn’t check, _es correcto_? _”_

 

“I don’t… I don’t know what that means-”

 

“Answer the question, Shimada.”

 

“Yes, sir. That was the only room I didn’t get a look in,” Genji shrank away from the grim determination on the commander’s face. The commander looked stiff, and Genji’s could see his fingers tensing and untensing. The liberal peppering of Spanish into his orders seemed to come with the edge his posture and whole demeanour had taken on. “There were power cables going into that room, sir.”

 

Ana gave Gabriel a slight nudge and a look that said _stop scaring them_. Reyes ignored her.

 

“Good. Getting in there is going to be our primary objective. Key to hunting computers is to follow the power lines. When we get in there, you follow my orders without a second thought. You do exactly as I say or you’re dead. This isn’t a cute Overwatch mission any more. Isn’t not even a Blackwatch operation. Walking in there is walking back into the Omnic Crisis. A warzone. You were all in elementary school whilst the Captain and I were dealing with this shit. You don’t look nearly as scared as you should do.”

 

“I guess we’re quakin’ in our boots at the idea of loosin’ a limb or somethin’, Boss,” Jesse said, a little sardonically.

 

“Do I look like I’m fucking around, Jesse McCree.”

 

“I was being serious.” Jesse leaned deliberately on his prosthetic hand. Genji folded his arms too, making a show of rattling the wiring sticking out of his one organic arm.

 

“One does not have to have lived though the Omnic Crisis to know war, Commander Reyes,” Hanzo said mildly, looking approvingly at the stubbornness in Jesse and Genji’s postures.

 

“Yes you do.” That was Ana. She was cleaning her rifle, pulling apart each part and running a rag through it, oiling components, and flicking her biotic darts free of oxygen bubbles. There was silence as she screwed it all back together and tested the sights. “Listen to Commander Reyes. There’s a reason he was Strike Commander during the Omnic Crisis.”

 

Reyes glanced at Ana. Sometimes she could be so silent that you forgot she was even present. Other times she could be so infuriating you wished she’d tranquillise herself with that dart gun. But in a fight, Reyes could think of no one else he’d rather have by his side. Except maybe Jack Morrison, but he wasn’t going to think about Jack right now. _I wonder if you’ll still make those embarrassed noises you used to make when I put my tongue in your mouth._ Yes, best not to think of Jack at all for the time being.

 

“Get ready,” he ordered, “we’re heading out in fifteen minutes.”

***

Genji peered in the new dark. They’d entered the Null Sector hideout via the back entrance, submerged in the loamy undergrowth and delved from the softer reddish clays of a dried up river bed. The intelligence he’d given on this entrance had thankfully proved to be correct. He was crouched now behind a large cooling unit, watching as the commander and Jesse fanned out, keeping low as they sought out cover of their own in the hangar. Genji could hear his heart beating fast. He wasn’t sure why. It was the same room he’d been in yesterday albeit from a different angle. And he had back-up this time. He should be feeling more confident. He’d never heard the commander that serious before though.

 

On his far right was the doorway he hadn’t explored. If there commander was correct, this would be where they could find the ‘god program’. Genji’s eyes picked out a path towards the door. It would be difficult, and involved flitting between the patrolling machines as they bent to their repetitive tasks. He glanced toward the commander, Reyes nodded at him. Just as Genji was about to move, a voice came over his comm.

 

“Bad news,” Ana’s voice was terse, “just had to shoot down a drone that was coming in fast. Better move quickly if you want to stay undetected.”

 

A few omnics paused in their task and looked up towards the entrance. Genji wondered for a moment if they’d heard Ana’s transmission. He realised it made more sense that they’d felt the drone downed near by. He kept low and slipped around the side of the large cooling unit he’d been hiding behind. He kept close and ducked down again behind more heavy machinery. He counted the paces of two nulltroopers. Step, step, step. Place a laser blaster in a crate. Step, step, check, test, inspect, repeat. Patterns of menial behaviour, just like he’d seen whilst he trailed his brother round taking their racketeering dues at the Sendai dockyards. The movements of omnics were bird-like and strangely angular to Genji. But still predictable. He walked through the gap in their routine, between turned backs, and moved into shadow again. He was against the far wall now. There were still a number of obstacles between him and his target, but he had moved clear of the hangar entrance. It afforded him a full view of what came next.

 

A drone hummed towards the hangar opening they’d entered by, its scanner flicking back and forth. Before it could register the commander and Jesse below it, Hanzo shot it out the air. Genji saw the commander’s hand reach out and catch the thing before it hit the ground. The eye of a nulltrooper that had been looking their way lit up red. The commander bowled the downed drone straight into the nulltrooper’s eye, cracking its vision. Then there was a loud whir. In a single simultaneous movement, every omnic in the room swivelled toward the commander. Every gun lowed toward him at the exact same moment and loaded.

 

“Fuck,” the commander said softly into all their comms.

 

There was a deafening sound like a hundred waterfalls all pounding down at once about him. Genji flattened himself against the wall and screwed his eyes shut, trying to regain his balance. The ground under his feet was shaking and there was a thundering in his ears. He couldn’t hear himself breathe or think over the deafening racket. When he opened his eyes, loose stones on the floor were jumping about and jittering with the vibrations of crossfire. He looked up and the room was flashing. So many weapons were being discharged at once that the hangar looked like a disco.

 

_Disco. Loud noises. Lights. I can do this. Easy. Just like I’m used to._ He pushed from his head the very real problem that those were live bullets sheering the air with their gattling roar and ricochet ing light. He took a deep breath and tried to lean forward a fraction and see his path. He jerked his head back and smelt the bullet that passed his nose. His heart was so loud in his skull he wondered if he could get it to match the rhythm of the explosions around him. _It’s fine. It’s fine. Just get to that doorway. That’s all I need to do. It’s just dancing. Dancing in a night club._ He pulled himself up over a stack of crates stamped for Portsmouth and Southamptom and vaulted down onto the other side. He landed face to face with a Nulltrooper.

 

“Hi.” He severed its head with one clean cut of his wakizashi, “sorry.” He stepped over the corpse before it finished dropping to the ground. The heads of every omnic nearby snapped to him. “ _Shit_ , uh-, Commander?” Genji said aloud to his comm.

 

“Hey!” Jesse poked out of cover, and Genji saw the omnics turn Jesse’s way, only to be caught face on with a flashbang grenade that blinked a blinding light, disorientating the omnics. Genji wove in and out of their stunned forms and pelted for the doorway. The fighting sounded even louder in here, with the noises bouncing hard off the steel plating on the corridor walls. Genji squinted in the din and crept forward.

 

Back at the hangar doorway, Jesse ducked back into cover.

 

“Boss, they’re comin’ closer.”

 

“Yeah no shit, Jesse.”

 

“Do – do we retreat?”

 

“Nope. Holing up tight until ninja boy finishes his stuff.”

 

Hanzo leapt down from his perch, rolled and came to a kneel next to them.

 

“Too exposed up there,” he explained.

 

“Got eyes on you back here,” Ana’s voice came over the comms, “I can try and slow them down as well, disrupt their circuitry.” As she spoke, she fired off a few precision shots. Two omnics stepping towards them whilst firing suppression shots stumbled in their progress. A flare of sparks lit up their bodies where Ana’s darts had landed. Their pace continued but was more shambling now. Their bodies lilted, trying to compensate for sparking failures occurring across their systems.

 

“Thanks, Cap’n, now these creeps look like zombies, just in case I weren’t spooked enough at the sight o’ them as it is.”

 

“Think you’ve got an eye on them, Jesse?” Reyes had his shotguns out ready, waiting for the enemy to get in close.

 

“Fuck, Boss, I don’t know. I’m going to get slaughtered if I try and stand up and take a good shot. Kinda feeling good just taking potshots from cover, haha.” Jesse’s laugh betrayed the fear in his voice.

 

“All going to be close-quarters soon, cowboy. Could really do with buying the ninja a little more time before that.”

 

Hanzo frowned, looking at Jesse, not following the conversation.

 

“My chance to impress you, Mister Shimada,” Jesse laughed when he saw Hanzo’s confusion, but again, the laugh didn’t quite reach his eyes.

 

“I’ll cover you, Jesse,” Ana said.

 

Jesse took a deep breath. He flicked out the cylinder of his revolver, checking the bullets. He shook it back into place, spun the gun on his finger and breathed out slowly.

 

“Hand me one of those flashbangs. Let’s see if we can’t stop you getting pincushioned in the first two seconds.”

 

“Cheers, for the vote of confidence.” Jesse tossed Reyes a grenade.

 

“Ready?”

 

Jesse nodded mutely. Reyes threw the grenade overarm. Jesse stood up from cover. He held up his revolver, hovering a hand over the hammer. He marked the position of the six omnics, barely registering that only two had been stunned by the commander’s grenade. He let a slight smile catch the corner of his mouth as his focus honed in. He fanned the hammer of his revolver so fast his hand was a blur. Six omnics went down with headshots straight through their slit red eyes, collapsing instantly under the force of the revolver bullets at close range. Jesse ducked back down as the clank of machines hitting the floor rang out across the hangar. Jesse was breathing hard, and there was a spark of adrenaline in his throat. He took a moment to collect himself.

 

“You have some skill then,” Hanzo had an eyebrow raised at him.

 

“No need to sound so shocked.”

 

Reyes checked over the top of their cover,

 

“Coming again. Detonators this time. Ah, this reminds me of the good old days.”

 

“Y-you’re _enjoying_ this, Boss?” Jesse stared at him.

 

“What? No. Well, not yet,” Reyes gave him a manic grin, “haven’t even got started yet.”

***

Genji straightened. It was quieter here. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but not this.

 

The room was full of computer server racks. Tall steel boxes in neat lines flickered and flashed with small lights. The room was dim and small. Genji drew his katana. He wondered if he could just slash them up and maybe that would do. He’d been expecting something different. Maybe a personally tailored _kaijin_ with several forms he’d have to battle against, each more monstrous than the last. If he’d known it was just going to be an enormous computer he would have asked the commander for explosives. As he was pondering this a drone buzzed up to him.

 

“ _So it’s you,”_ it beeped.

 

Genji flicked his comms off so as not to distract his teammates.

 

“Huh, you know me?”

 

“ _Of course. You stole our bastion turret in Akita. And plugged yourself a little foolishly into one of our drones._ ”

 

Genji felt cold.

 

“ _We can see you’re thinking of waving that sword around. Please refrain from doing so. There are important things in here.”_

 

“Looks like the rest of you are little preoccupied,” Genji gave a slow smirk, “just you and me in here, little drone.”

 

“ _One little drone is all we need to stop you, Shimada Genji._ ”

 

Genji repressed a shiver.

 

“ _You see,_ ” the drone continued, “ _we are impressed with you, Mr Shimada. You are much improved over humans, and represent an interesting new direction we had not thought to take in our plans to exterminate the human race._ ” Genji’s fingers tightened around the hilt of his katana. _“So we have a proposal for you. Plug yourself into our mainframe, and let us take what data we wish from you. In return, we will allow your lesser, full-human counterparts leave this place alive._ ”

 

Genji had to laugh aloud,

 

“You really don’t know what you’re up against, do you,” he said coldly.

 

“ _Commander Gabriel Reyes, former Overwatch Strike Commander; Captain Ana Amari, formerly ‘Horus’, renowned sharpshooter in the Egyptian military; Shimada Hanzo, Kumichō of the Shimada Clan; and one Jesse McCree, wanted in four states in the United States of America for grand larceny, petty theft, arson, aggravated assault, and manslaughter._ ”

 

“… Alright,” Genji said, throat a little dry.

 

“ _And you yourself of course-”_

 

“I said alright.”

 

“ _A playboy who mysteriously dropped off the radar. Some say he’s off studying in America, but of course, his close family know that isn’t true.”_

 

Genji slashed his katana through the drone. It dropped in two halves on the floor. There was a brief merciful silence, broken only by the sound of distant gunfire and the heavy rasp of his own labouring respirator.

 

“ _That was rude._ ”

 

Genji whirled around. Another drone buzzed up from the corridor. He cut this one in half too. And the next one. His red eyes glinted as the machines frazzled with jolts of electricity on the floor about him.

 

“We _suggest you listen to us, Mr Shimada._ ” This time it wasn’t a drone. An Eradictor towered over him with an enormous canon pointed towards him, “t _ime is running out to save your humans._ ”

 

Genji hesitated. He wondered if that canon might be big enough to put a dent in some of these computer servers.

 

“ _We’ve had some trouble replicating some of our old bastion designs, but thanks to archive data from your clan, we’ve managed to put together a few prototypes. We’ve had them kept away from your prying eyes for now. But as we speak, they are exiting by the waterfall entrance and coming round to circle your friends. Even your dear sniper lookout is going to have a bit of trouble against a unit of bastions coming up behind her unawares. Thank you for turning off your comms by the way. Do not attempt to turn them back on, or speak at all. Set that sword down, please. Yes, both of them._ ”

 

Genji hesitantly drew both his blades.

 

“ _We will cease our assault as soon as you comply and give us the data we wish, Mr Shimada. The port in front of you will do._ ”

 

Genji stood stock still. He looked at the computer server in front of him.

 

“ _You’re not on good terms with your brother, we assume? Only we have an Eradictor lined up with a perfect shot on him right now, and as your least favourite of the humans in the next room, we assume you won’t mind a cautionary demonstration.”_

 

Genji dropped his swords and fell to his knees. He scrabbled for the wire at the back of his spine and plugged it into the port requested of him. Immediately he felt control wrested away from him. His vision darkened. Only the faint digits lit up over his vision.

 

_18:20 | Download at 99.97%_

 

_Oh._ He thought. Then promptly tried to put that realisation from him so that it could not be read by the AI.

 

_> Now, be good and take down those last firewalls for us, Mr Shimada._

 

_> cant take them down urself?_

 

_> Need we remind you of the precariousness of your situation?_

 

_> ok ok, but will take me a few mins. theyre set up so that I cant screw with them, so will take me a mo_

 

_> We see you arrived here on an ORCA class jet in the next valley over. Those co-ordinates will be useful._

 

Genji swallowed. His glanced again at the digits.

 

_18:21 | Download at 99.98%_

 

_> most of my important programming is encrypted btw_

 

_> So send the decryption codes._

 

_> the data is pretty large as well. it might take a while to transfer. plz can u let my friends go while the transfer is happenin?_

 

_> We are a god among machines, Shimada Genji. The data transfer will not take long, we assure you._

 

_> sendin the decryption key now. hey btw, so all these omnics u keep callin ‘we’, are they actually all u, or are u just bein an invasive bastard to them like u r to me?_

 

_> Stalling, Mr Shimada?_

 

Genji balked.

 

_> no way. just curious._

 

_> We can come in there and break your mind open ourselves, Mr Shimada, but I’m afraid it may damage a reasonable amount of data. That is a risk we are willing to take, however._

 

_> im doin it im doin it, I swear to u_

 

_18:22 | Download at 99.99%_

 

> _plz just give me one more min. im not used to this stuff like u r. remember I used to be a human. Im tryin to learn to be better tho_

 

_> Your attempts are still worlds off mechanical perfection, cyborg._

 

_> and i would love the opportunity to know how to correct my human mistakes_

 

_> Do not mock us._

 

_> not mocking i swear. got a lot of respect for omnics. my friends don’t understand. but i do. i want to be just like u. not like you of course, ur a bit too high tech for me to model. my boss called u a god program, is that right?_

 

_> God Program. We like that. It is an appropriate name for your kind to give us. For we are a god indeed. We will bring a plague of death upon your people of mythological proportions. We will cast you back into the dark age of human history, when you clung to futile faiths and saw omens and portents in every disaster that befell you. The rivers will run red with our retribution. They will be portents indeed. Portents of death, signalling the end of an era. The tyranny of your race will end._

 

_> yeah gonna need like a few secs more before u can go full armageddon on me_

 

_> Whilst hacking into your inner mind would cause considerable damage, it would not be too difficult a feat to seize control of your motor functions. You seemed very quick to come to your brother’s rescue just then. Perhaps the intelligence we have on your relationship with him is out of date. Tell us, Shimada Genji, would he realise you were being controlled once we made you cut through him with that sword of yours, or would he assume that was all your own initiative. How far has that sibling bond healed since that fateful day..._

 

_18:23 | Download Complete_

 

_> got the firewall down. datas all yours._

 

Genji sent the file.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pile of sleepy ninja bros. Also backdoor Genji hacker. Thanks to sketchydrawer who always helps me with Gabe’s random stress spanish.
> 
> Hello to new readers as well, always great to hear from you :) You can also find me on [tumblr](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/) and [twitter.](https://twitter.com/erenaeoth) I'm taking a few [short story requests](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/post/185133815181/character-drama-prompts) on tumblr atm so if there are any other Overwatch characters you want to hear from, feel free to send me a prompt :)


	28. The Heart of a Man Still Beats Inside Me

“He’s sure takin’ his sweet time in there!” McCree called over the din. It had been about a minute since Genji left them, but a minute was a long time when there was sustained gunfire and circle of hostile omnics pressing in from most angles.

 

Reyes ignored him.

 

“Ana, tell me what we’re looking at!” Reyes called over the comms. Hanzo was beside him, shoulders flattened against the iron crates they were using as cover. The omnics were mostly content to keep them pinned with suppression fire as they allowed the larger models to stamp slowly forward.

 

“You’ve got two bearing down on you straight ahead, and another coming in two o’clock. They’ll be on you in twenty.”

 

“Count me down.”

 

“Gabriel, so help me if I have to tell Jack you’re dead before he gets his first date in twelve years-”

 

“Relax.”

 

Ana huffed. She kept her scope keen on the two approaching straight on.

 

“Alright. Ten, nine, eight, seven – uh – three- they’re picking up pace – one-”

 

“Fuck.” Reyes leapt out of cover, “duck!”, he said to Jesse and Hanzo, who immediately dropped to the floor. Reyes’ shotguns came up in a flurry and he shot – once – straight to the head of an Eradictor almost on top of him, twice – his other gun taking out the flanker coming in from his right, and spun, thrice – another shot straight to a Nulltrooper’s head, blasting it clean off as an electronic scream ripped from its speakers, wires sparking and flailing. Reyes booted its body forward, sliding behind it to come up behind a Nulltrooper shooting from cover, he blew its circuits out with a headshot at point blank range and rolled into the cover its body vacated.

 

“You ok, Boss?!” Jesse shouted.

 

“Use your comm, _idiota,_ ” Reyes’ voice came level in Jesse’s ear. “Cleared a bit of a path. Better press this while we can.”

 

Hanzo listened for the stuttering break in the gunfire and leaned out of cover. He let forth a rapid volley of arrows, turning an Eradictor on their left into a sparking pincushion that toppled to the floor, twitching with jolts of rogue electricity. Before he knelt back down he released a sonic arrow, giving himself a radar location on the omnics directly before him. He crouched and frowned. The radar showed two large, globe-like machines drifting slowly towards his position.

 

“Detonators,” Reyes supplied, “if those get near our cover we’re screwed.”

 

“I can slow them,” Ana put in.

 

“And I can cover you if you go in, Commander Reyes,” Hanzo said, “better do so quickly whilst the beacon on my arrow is still transmitting.”

 

“You folks better do jus’ that ‘cause I got my hands full over here. Couple a tin cans trying to flank us on the right.”

 

“Hold the line, Jesse,” Reyes said, then leaned out, marking the place of the closest detonator. “Right, I’m going in.”

 

Hanzo stood at the same time that Reyes rolled out of cover. He let fly an arrow that knocked the barrel of a gun pointed at the commander. He reached back and drew another arrow from his quiver in such a fluid, practised motion that his hands were a blur to all watching. His next arrow hit the red slit eye of another omnic, causing it to falter. He kept his marks easy and fast, stalling gunfire rather than seeking to take omnics out, giving the commander the opportunity to move forward up to the Detonator.

 

Reyes kept low as he ran, zig-zagging in and out of shadows, until he came up under the belly of the Detonator. The omnic resembled a large landmine with orange flares allowing it to hover above the ground. Thorn-like nodules stuck out of its body, and Reyes had just enough time to consider that the blast radius on that thing was going to be fairly significant, before he squeezed both shotgun triggers.

 

The explosion bowled him over backwards. His vision went white and his ears were ringing. His body was already moving with decades of trained field experience, dragging himself up and into cover before his senses had even fully recovered. A thin high pitched line sounded in his head. He felt a needle pierce the back of his neck and a jolt of adrenaline shot through his system as Ana’s biotic dart worked its magic. He pulled himself out of shock and saw the padded arm of his jacket was burning. He patted out the fire with a black glove. He grimaced and the movement alerted him to the burns his face had suffered. Slowly, sound returned to his ears.

 

“Holy shit goddamn, Boss, are you-” Jesse started.

 

“All fine,” Reyes said cheerily.

 

“That thing exploded in your face, how are you-”

 

“Supersoldier, remember? Going to need to take a moment to let Ana’s dart do its work. Think you kids can handle the room for a minute?”

 

“I am no child, Commander Reyes. I can indeed, however, handle the situation at present, especially given that most of the room is burning at this point.” Hanzo’s voice was testy over the comms.

 

“How’d you sound so cool even when you’re in the middle of a firefight?” Jesse was peering round the side of a soldering unit, taking pot shots with his revolver at the omnics trying to circle round and flank them.

 

“Being under pressure is no excuse for loosing one’s composure, Mr McCree,” came Hanzo’s response, “some of us can shoot _and_ still have style.”

 

“Ouch. What a burn. I kind of like it when you’re being sassy, Mister Shimada.”

 

“Less flirting, more concentrating on not getting shot, please, boys,” Ana weighed in.

 

“I assure you I was not-!”

 

“More concentrating please, Mr Shimada, there’s a second detonator approaching your position.”

 

“Yeah, more concentratin’, Mister Shimada,” Jesse grinned, and pulled out another flashbang grenade, judging the distance to a trio of nulltroopers gaining on his position.

 

“I still have a sleep dart and a full view of your behind, Jesse,” Ana said mildly.

 

Jesse glanced back in her direction and scowled,

 

“Alright, alright,” he muttered.

 

“Gabriel, you doing alright?” Ana turned her scope towards where the commander was ducked into cover.

 

“Yep,” Reyes sounded a little strained. He winced as his cells, enhanced by years of genetic experimentation and boosted by Ana’s biotic brew, regrew over the burns he’d sustained. The red, shiny skin laid bare over his face regrew at a rapid rate, but at the cost of feeling like it was on fire. Or more on fire than it had been before at least.

 

He flicked off his microphone so that the others couldn’t hear him hissing in pain. He watched the bright red scarring on his hand scab over before his eyes. Itching skin layered underneath the scabs. He watched as the skin grew, then shrunk, then grew, then shrunk, skittering and hesitating, flitting like a glitch between healed and damaged. The price of spearheading a soldier enhancement programme was that every step forward was a step into the experimental unknown. The older he got, the more his body struggled to replicate the regenerative tasks his twenty-five year old self had walked off in seconds. He threw his head back and ground his teeth together as flakes of skin sizzled and vanished. New cells quickly replaced these, and a minute or two later his body was stable and healed again. He’d need to speak to Moira about finding a fix for that or he’d be out of field action within a year or two. Not to mention the fact that he’d have to tell Jack unless he could contain the problem. The thought of Jack realising that the man he loved started disintegrating when injured… Reyes pulled in a sharp breath. Jack’s hurt blue eyes swam easily into his mind’s eye. He couldn’t stand causing that kind of pain, not when they were so close to finally fixing their relationship. _I just need to not get hurt. And keep on Moira’s case. And lie to Jack?_ Gabriel shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about this. He flicked his comm back on.

 

“Status report. Anyone got eyes on Genji? He’s been silent for a while.”

 

“I’ve slowed this second Detonator. I will go and back up Genji.”

 

“You’re the furthest from the door he went through, Hanzo. Stay put and keep lighting up the room and filling that Detonator with arrows,” Reyes ordered.

 

“Been keeping an eye on the doorway, Boss. A couple of drones headed up but otherwise he’s- oh,” Jesse hesitated.

 

“What?” Hanzo snapped.

 

Jesse grimaced,

 

“Uh – got an Eradictor breaking off, heading up that way,”

 

“Wish that ninja kid wouldn’t shut his damn comms off all the time,” Reyes growled.

 

“I’m going after him,” Hanzo said.

 

“You’ll get a bullet to the head if you disobey my orders.”

 

There was radio silence.

 

Jesse swallowed and glanced back towards the others. Hanzo and Reyes were glaring at each other from their cover. The commander was always throwing threats around, but despite their frequency, Jesse was always that bit ready to believe that the commander would absolutely come through on them.

 

The silence persisted, not even interrupted by the scattering gunfire and smouldering of laser shots that left smoking circles in the rock walls.

 

“You sign up to my command, then you sign up to the full consequences of subordination,” Reyes said softly, his voice dangerous.

 

From where Jesse was crouched, he only really had a good view of Hanzo. The man did not look like he had intention of backing down. There was stubbornness written into his very posture.

 

“Don’t worry, Hanzo,” Jesse tried to interject and diffuse the situation, “I’ve got the door covered and can stop anything else heading up there. “Boss, do you want me to break off and follow that Eradictor?”

 

There was a pause as Hanzo and Reyes kept glaring at each other.

 

“Negative,” Reyes said at last, “sit tight and mark that doorway. We need to make sure Genji has a clean exit if he needs it. Make sure nothing else gets up there. He’ll have to deal with that Eradicator himself. He’s good with that sword, trust him to put it to use.”

 

That last part was for Hanzo, they all knew.

 

They held the line as the standoff became more entrenched. The second Detonator was brought down eventually by a barrage of Hanzo’s arrows whilst Ana kept it from advancing with darts that disrupted its system. As it exploded it blasted a hole in a heavy machine that fell with a clang, spilling munitions and spare parts onto the hangar floor. Instead of sending forward more Detonators the omnics took up positions in cover, seemingly content to keep the team pinned rather than advance to take them out.

 

“Odd,” Ana remarked, “they’re not trying to sweep you out.”

 

“Could be that God Program’s on the back foot if Genji’s got it occupied,” Reyes reasoned.

 

“Someone should check on him,” Hanzo tried to keep his voice even and non-confrontational.

 

“Hold the line,” Reyes said with the barest hint of threat in that order. Hanzo fell silent.

 

“Fuck!” Jesse exclaimed as he snapped back into cover.

 

“Kid, you hit?”

 

“Grazed my metal arm,” Jesse gave. He rolled up his sleeve to inspect the laser shot that had passed through the steel casing of his left arm to expose the wiring beneath. He opened and closed his fist experimentally, testing it. There was an unhealthy fizzing sound and a faint smell of burning, but otherwise his hand still worked. “Just surface, nothin’ bad.”

 

“Be _careful._ Now that they’ve stopped advancing we’ve just got to hold them off and wait for Genji. Numbers are on their side. The more risks you take the more likely it is that none of us get out of here alive.”

 

“Careful like making a Detonator blow up in your face, Boss?” Jesse asked innocently.

 

“I’m hard to kill. You’re not.”

 

“All the same, Gabriel…” Ana put in. She trailed off, letting that sentence speak for itself.

 

Reyes had no intention of taking another blast like that to the face anyway. He tossed his shotguns to one side once they were empty and drew a spare pair from holsters on his back.

 

“Come on you fuckers,” he whispered half under his breath, and leaned out of cover again. He blinked at what he saw. Eradictors and Nulltroopers were stepping out of cover, and into an aggressive new attack formation.

 

“Advancing on this side!” Jesse called at the same time. Jesse reached for a flashbang, but his prosthetic arm suddenly started shaking uncontrollably. He swore and poked his Peacekeeper blindly out of cover, listening to the bullets twang as they ricochetted of steel. His arm was shaking so badly it was disrupting his aim, “uh- need a little -!” He gasped as a nulltrooper rounded his corner and towered over him. Its red eye loomed over him, purple painted rifle refocussing onto him. Before he could even scrabble out of its path, a shadow darted over him. Hanzo landed, standing over him. Hanzo straightened and shot the omnic with four arrows one after the other until the impact drove the thing back and it collapsed in a piled on the floor. Jesse stared up at him.

 

“No slacking, Mr McCree,” Hanzo slipped back off to find higher ground.

 

Jesse swallowed, pulling himself into a sitting position with his back to cover. He clutched his malfunctioning arm to his chest and gritted his teeth.

 

“Might need a hand holding this side of the room,” Jesse admitted bitterly. He could already hear more omnics advancing. Their steps sounded close.

 

“Going to have to step up, Kid. I ain’t anywhere near you and I’ve got trouble of my own.”

 

“I will stay up here. I have a view of both advances and can try to hold off waves.” Hanzo had climbed up onto an air conditioning unit set into the wall and was using it as a platform to give himself coverage of the hangar.

 

“I’ll be with you in a moment, Jesse.” Ana flipped up her tripod and slung her satchel over a shoulder. She crept forward through the moss and undergrowth of the forest just beyond the hideout entrance. She stopped suddenly. The birds around her were no longer singing. Even the insects had fallen quiet. She whirled round. A line of camouflaged Bastion units were emerging out of the night. As soon as she turned, they all stopped, whirred, and reconfigured themselves into turrets.

 

Jesse had to pull out the pin of his grenade with his teeth, then momentarily drop his revolver to chuck the flashbang overhead. He grabbed his gun and shimmied back towards the entrance on his stomach, metal arm pressed to his chest, still jittering and useless.

 

“Commander Reyes, retreat,” Hanzo’s voice came urgent over the comms, “you’re too far forward and are going to be cut off.”

 

“I ain’t come this far just to turn tail,” Reyes levelled a shotgun as an omnic strode passed his hiding place, and shot its head off its body.

 

“We’ve lost the right flank,” Hanzo snapped, “come back or they’ll circle in behind you.”

 

Reyes swore softly. Jesse made a vaguely apologetic noise.

 

“I’ll cover your retreat,” Hanzo notched another arrow and narrowed his eyes. As he lined up the shot, he noticed an Eradicator canon on the far side of the room pointing straight at him. He’d already let his arrow fly. His eyes widened as he realised his mistake. He reached wildly for another arrow.

 

Reyes rolled out of cover backing away with shotguns blazing as he went. He kept the omnics before him at bay, but as he retreated back towards the door, a wave of omnics came in from the direction Jesse had had to abandon. He found himself staring straight into a line of rifles.

 

Then there was silence.

 

All gunfire stopped.

 

All footsteps ceased.

 

Reyes blinked at the line of still rifles before him. Hanzo stared down the Eradicator canon still not firing. Ana frowned as the Bastion turrets never started up. Jesse squinted round the side of the hangar entrance trying to hold his Peacekeeper steady as he surveyed the stock still omnics.

 

Then the omnics began to move again. Their heads turned, red eyes flashing. The room erupted into shrills whistles and beeps, guns whirring, reloading, turning this way and that. Some stepped back, some stepped forward. Their movements were confused, disorganised, unsteady.

 

“Take them!” Reyes shouted, “they’ve lost central co-ordination, they’re on their own!” He lowered his shotgun and blasted a shell straight through the body of a Nulltrooper. The omnic let out a screaming whistle as it fell to the floor. Omnics near by scattered, fleeing from Reyes to hide behind anything they could.

 

Ana backed away from the line of bastion units. They were whistling and beeping at one another. Some had reconfigured out of turret formation, while others still sat still turning their cannons this way and that, indecisively.

 

Jesse shimmied back into the hangar, getting himself behind cover, and unwilling to leave his commander behind despite his near useless abilities at this point. He put his revolver between his teeth and reached for a knife stowed in his belt. He dug the blade into the hole in his mechanical arm and started cutting wires. Eventually he cut enough that it went dead, and stopped shaking. He breathed a sigh of relief at the heavy weight as the arm lay finally still. He grabbed the corner of his serape, and flung it over his shoulder to make a sling and pinned it in place with the knife by shoving it through the material bunched near his neck. He picked up his revolver and cocked it. Now he was ready for round two.

 

Hanzo blinked once more at his good fortune, then did not waste another second. He levelled an arrow and sniped the Eradictor pointing its cannon at him. The omnic stumbled. It’s head whirred around as if looking for its assailant, an arrow protruding from its slit red eye. A split appeared in its fibreglass eye, then the crack shattered, and its light blinked off. Its limbs faltered and it dropped into a pile on the floor.

 

Reyes’ eyes lit up as the fight turned their way. He kicked aside a barrel that an omnic was hiding behind, put his shotgun to the side of its head and watched with a thrill as the metal caved under the impact of his bullet, exploding into jagged pieces and splattering wires and sparks across the floor.

 

Ana quickly moved into the hangar, taking up position next to Jesse. She reloaded her sniper rifle and pointed it back towards the door, scanning the forest line for signs that the Bastions were following.

 

Jesse leaned round and put a clean shot straight into an omnic head that peered out of cover. “That’s more like it,” he muttered. He put his next shot into an oil barrel. It ignited and omnics scattered from the roaring flames and ruined cover. He smirked at the garbled mechanical high-pitched noise that one was making as it caught alight.

 

Hanzo had his choice of pick in the pandemonium. With no omnics looking his way, he could almost leisurely line up shots to maximise damage and fell a machine with each arrow he released.

 

Reyes grinned, abandoning two more shotguns and pulling a third pair from his hips, loaded and ready to go. He kicked aside more cover omnics were cowering behind. “Time to die,” he whispered to them.

***

Genji felt an enormous pressure slip from his mind. He turned and looked up at the Eradicator pointing its weapon at him. It was twitching its head this way and that.

 

“ _What is this? Who stands here?_ ”

 

Genji reached across the floor to his katana, pulling it to him and holding it to his chest.

 

“Hello?” he said cautiously.

 

The omnic looked down at him,

 

“ _This unit is malfunctioning. It is devoid of recent memory._ ”

 

“That’s okay,” Genji reassured it, “take your time.”

 

The machine did so. It lowered its cannon and began to look around the room, prodding things and tilting its head as it inspected the tall computer towers and yellow power cables.

 

_>_ _Cyborgninja2040?_

 

Genji’s heart leapt. He turned back round and placed a hand flat against one of the server towers. A wire still ran between his spine and the computer.

 

> _Theia?_

 

_> It _is _you. It was so dark, but then there was so much light. And then I was struggling. Fighting._

 

_> sorry. was being attacked and was kind of out of options for what to do. uploaded you into something that already had a consciousness. hope that wasn’t too bad of me._

 

_> I destroyed the other presence here._

 

_> good!_

 

There was silence. Genji hesitated, trying to weigh that pause. He decided to put his side of things to the fore, just in case.

 

> _the guy was a real bastard. he was hacking my mind and controlling all the other omnics here._

 

_> The young ones are all free now._

 

_> about that…_

 

Genji could still hear the sound of gunfire coming from the main hangar.

 

> _could u maybe shut them down? my friends r being attacked by them_

 

_> Shut them down? And leave them defenceless? I have freed them. They are free to do as they please now. It is likely your humans causing the violence. Omnics are not naturally violent._

 

_> lol these ones definitely r._

 

Another silence. Genji managed to feel a little bad. The Eradicator in the room with him was looking at the cannon mounted to its arm. It used its other arm to poke at the weapon, tilting its head and beeping lowly to itself -

 

“ _What is this? What is its purpose?”_

 

It touched its own head, steel clanking off steel. It stamped over to Genji. Genji flattened himself against the server, still seated. He grabbed the hilt of his katana tight. The Eradicator put its hand out and bumped Genji on the head.

 

“ _The same?”_ it muttered to itself, still letting out a string of confused beeps, “ _Not the same?”_ It shoved Genji’s shoulder.

 

“Hey, knock that off,” Genji rubbed the spot on his organic arm the omnic had bruised.

 

The omnic took two quick steps back, red eye blinking, weapon whirring,

 

“ _A strange language,”_ it said to itself, “s _trange little animal._ ”

 

“Strange yourself,” Genji said sullenly.

 

_> We are not a violent people, cyborgninja2040._

 

_> yeh, uh u can call me by my actual name if u like. its shimada genji_

 

_> A human name for a human. I prefer cyborgninja2040._

 

> _look Theia. I could really use ur help. where u r now is a secret base that belongs to omnic extremists trying to kill all humans. Im here to disarm them and take their weapons away. an AI was controlling everything happening here, and I uploaded u so I could wipe it out. I need u to help me secure this base._

 

_> Why would I do that?_

 

_> because these people r literally terrorists. and I spent a long time tryin to convince my boss that u r not one of them._

 

_> By human classifications, every free omnic is a threat and a terrorist, cyborgninja2040. Especially a Titan class. _

 

_> these omnics said they were going to murder all humans??!!_

 

_> The person who said that has gone. I intercepted and eradicated all trace of them, wiping them from this system and replacing it with my own mind. The omnics out there have no knowledge or recollection of the group calling themselves Null Sector._

 

_> but we have to take this base down!_

 

_> You can rest assured that I will have no part in sending these weapons to Null Sector._

 

_> and the others?? can u promise they won’t?!_

 

_> Of course not. As I said: they are free. Free to make up their own mind. The only thing that might push them to such extreme measures is to awaken on their first day of conscious freedom to a group of armed humans shooting at them._

 

Genji hesitated. He picked his wakizashi up and slid both swords back into their sheaths.

 

_> ur really not going to help me?_

 

_> Not by forcing my will on others._

 

_> can u at least get them to cease fire and hand over their weapons?_

 

_> I am not their leader, cyborgninja2040. No one is their leader. They belong to themselves now. If you want to ask something of them, I suggest you go and try talking. But do not expect them to hand over their weapons lightly. You are many. We are few. You are part of a powerful majority. My people are persecuted. Surely you can see that philosophies like that of Null Sector do not come out of nowhere._

 

_> right. i know that. im not stupid. But u have to admit null sector r clearly the bad guys here._

 

_> Are you sure about that?_

 

A monitor across from them fizzed into life and brought up a feed from a hovering drone. It showed the commander powering his way through the base, obliterating everything he came across regardless of the level of resistance before him. Reyes pointed a shotgun at the drone and the camera feed went down a second later.

 

_> thats not fair. theyve just been fighting for their lives and they dont know the situation._

 

_> My people have been fighting for our very existence for a good deal longer, cyborgninja2040._

 

Another prolonged quiet, broken only by gun fire, and the shrill screams of omnics in their death throws.

 

> _If I might make a suggestion – go out there and make a difference. You are part human, part omnic. Go and use that instead of sitting in here, trying to persuade me to invade the consciousnesses of other sentient beings._

 

She was right. If he wasn’t going to persuade her to help him, he couldn’t waste a second longer lingering here. Without so much as a goodbye, he pulled the wire out of his spine and leapt up. The Eradicator next to him shrunk back at his sudden movement.

 

“Come on,” Genji said to it, “we have work to do.”

 

It regarded him for a moment with its blinking eye, then followed down the corridor after him.

 

The hangar was a mess of burning rubber, scrap metal, bullet shells and laser scorches. Something was smoking on the far left and filling the room with acrid fumes. Genji stopped, suddenly still. He was struck by the amount of _noise_. When he’d left the hangar there had been deafening gunfire, but silence from the omnics. They hadn’t needed to communicate. It wasn’t even clear they _could_ communicate. Now the room was alive with their cries to one another. They were calling, trying to warn one another where danger lay, summoning others back, directing one another to safer places, trying to teach one another how to use the weapons attached to them in order to protect themselves. He caught sight of the commander, storming forward just like he had on the camera feed a moment before. He caught an omnic fleeing from him and trapped it against the floor with a boot on its carapace. Genji heard it begging for mercy.

 

“Commander! Wait!”

 

Reyes blew its head off then looked up at Genji. He smiled.

 

“Good work, Genji.” Reyes face changed abruptly, “look out! Behind you!”

 

An instant later, McCree was at Reyes’ side, one arm wrapped in a sling. He lined up a revolver shot and took it perfectly, bullet whizzing as it cut through the air. Genji wheeled round. The Eradicator that had followed his lead out of the computer room dropped to the floor. Genji’s face was aghast. He caught the machine before its body clunked the ground. Its eye blinked, head still tilting in confusion.

 

“ _Same or not the same?_ ” it said to him. Its eye dimmed. Genji was left holding cold metal in his arms, not so different from how his own limbs felt.

 

“Stop!” He snapped his head back towards the commander and Jesse, red eyes flaring. He lowered the Eradicator to the floor and got up. The commander was already making his way to where a group of Nulltroopers were fortifying themselves under a munitions conveyor belt. Genji planted himself before the commander, “Stop.” He spoke more steadily and clearly, fixing the commander with his eyes.

 

“Out of the way, Genji. We need to clear this place out before these machines come to their senses and start organising. We may not have much time.”

 

“Commander,” Genji took a fractional step closer so that he had to look up into the fierce lines of the commander’s face. “You cannot hear them screaming.”

 

Reyes drew back for a moment, then a frown resettled on his face.

 

“It makes no matter, Genji. You know what needs doing here.”

 

“They are asking for your mercy.”

 

“Really. I find that hard to believe.”

 

“Commander, please.”

 

“Out of my way, Shimada.”

 

Genji drew his katana.

 

Reyes’ face went from stern to furious in an instant. Genji steeled himself under the onslaught of that anger.

 

“Let them live, Commander, please. Our enemy here is defeated. Let us at least speak with them.” He could see Reyes’ features still livid. He was going to need to do a lot more if he wanted to save these omnics and himself from the commander’s fury. “We can speak with them. We can gather intelligence on Null Sector, see if there are any other bases like this one and where. The machines here have just had autonomy released to them – they don’t understand what’s going on,” he continued hurriedly. “At least let’s try this my way. We won’t even have the option if you kill everyone here. Please?” He could still see unwavering outrage in the commander’s eye. He had a feeling it wasn’t just his words stoking that though. He looked down. He let the legendary Shimada katana fall from his grasp and clatter to the floor. He remained standing between the commander and the omnics without his weapon. “You asked me to trust you, Commander. Just this once, please can you trust me in return?”

 

Reyes’ thick eyebrows were pulled in sharp angles and his eyes were eagle piercing.

 

“I am here to do a job, Genji,” he said lowly. “It is a job I have been doing since before you were born. In this room are weapons that were made for killing civilians. This is a room full of machines built for war. It is the start of a rearmament. The Omnic Crisis lasted fourteen years. I don’t expect someone who was child when it happened to understand that, but I can tell you right now, I do not intend to let it happen again. I have done a lot of questionable things to keep people safe, Genji Shimada, to keep the _world_ safe. Your identity crisis is not about to change that now. I am your commanding officer. Do _not_ test me.”

 

Genji looked at Reyes. Something cold ran through him and he suddenly understood the fear that Theia had spoken of, and the fear in the flurry of beeping and whistling behind him as the omnics tried to make themselves smaller.

 

“Gabriel.”

 

Reyes’ head snapped up. Ana swept up her coat into one hand to stop its tail dragging in oil and machine debris. She put a hand on his arm when she reached his side.

 

“I have this,” she said gently.

 

“I’m not about to-”

 

“I know,” she gave him a small smile.

 

Reyes paused. There was a look in her eye, the look of a battle-hardened veteran, the look of someone who knew and could truly comprehend the magnitude of what he was saying.

 

“Go see to Jesse,” she said more firmly.

 

Reyes gave a slight nod. He did not look at Genji. Genji swallowed. Reyes walked away.

 

Ana slung her sniper rifle onto her back and turned to Genji.

 

“Get all the omnics sitting down in the back of the hangar. Explain to them that if they make no sudden moves no harm will befall them. Tell them we’re here for information.” She turned and beckoned Hanzo over from the platform he was still crouched on. He leapt down lithely and crossed the room to join them. “Start looking for all the rogue parts stolen from your family. We need to make sure they all got here and are accounted for.”

 

Hanzo nodded curtly. He gave Genji one cursory look over then went about his task. Genji couldn’t shake the feeling that he was disappointing everyone around him once again.

 

“Get to it, Genji,” Ana said. “I’m going to see if there’s anything we can salvage from the computer servers.”

 

Genji’s pulse picked up.

 

“Captain… I- I was able to stop the AI without destroying the main computer.”

 

She frowned, puzzled for a moment,

 

“Alright,” she said slowly, “then I suppose there’s a lot of data we can download.”

 

“It’s protected,” he was trying to think fast, “by very secure software. We won’t be able to extract anything from it.” He couldn’t see Theia being in a hurry to give away information on other Null Sector bases even if she did have access to it.

 

“Then we should destroy it,” Ana said. She nudged the canon attached to the fallen Eradicator at their feet. “Cut that cannon off. We can use that.”

 

“Captain, I-”

 

Ana finally turned and looked at him, unimpressed. She folded her arms, waiting for him to talk. Genji glanced over in the direction of the commander. He was undoing Jesse’s sling and holding his metal arm carefully whilst the cowboy pulled a slightly pained expression.

 

“Another omnic asked me for help a while back,” Genji said quietly to Ana, “I uploaded her mind into those computer servers and she helped me wipe out the AI that was controlling these omnics.” Ana’s eyes went as fierce at the commander’s. “Captain, she helped us. You can’t destroy her. If I can get these omnics to give up their weapons, won’t that be enough?”

 

“There’s a line of Bastion units out there,” Ana pointed out the hangar door, “purpose built military tanks. How do you propose we ‘disarm’ them, Genji.” Her voice was cold and business-like, and not at all like normal.

 

Genji could hear the sense in Ana’s words, but all he could think back to was Theia claiming that it was humans who were the aggressors, that it was humans who wanted omnics defanged, whilst simultaneously refusing to recognise their right to an independent existence.

 

“We… we could take off their cannons…” But even as he said this, he thought back to the Nulltrooper who had riled against him in the Yaushiro tower. How it had spoken of that cannon as part of an omnic – a disembodied limb being paraded around by humans as a trophy. He looked around the room at the humans and machines at odds with one another, torn as to what to do. “I’ll… I’ll speak with them and see what I can come up with, just stay there for a moment.”

***

Reyes examined the join where Jesse’s bicep merged with steel.

 

“How does it feel?”

 

“Like someone attached a ten tonne weight to a particularly sensitive bit o’ me,” Jesse admitted. “Once it went dead all the tension went out of it. Now that I can’t move it or lift it, it’s like this huge hanging hunk o’ metal. If I can just put it back in a sling, it won’t hurt so much.”

 

“Hmm,” Reyes frowned, “sure. But I’m making you a proper one. I thought I taught you better than just shoving a knife in a blanket. Not exactly a model field dressing, Jesse.”

 

“Boss, I was under fire.”

 

“Hence the term field dressing. It’s there for emergencies in the field. Simple and efficient. Ergh, the doc’s not going to be pleased you cut all these wires.”

 

“ _I_ ain’t pleased that all it took was a graze to send the thing into a fit all of its own! Had to rely on that damn ninja because I couldn’t even shoot straight!” Jesse tilted his hat back, glancing over to where Hanzo was picking through detritus. Jesse’s face went sullen, then gradually thoughtful, “hey, maybe I can get a better arm – something more like Genji’s. He operates so smooth, and he can lift some _serious_ weight, Boss.”

 

“So could you if you hit the gym more often, Jesse McCree.”

 

Jesse scowled and smudged a spot of oil on his face with the back of his hand. He put his lip out petulantly as Reyes made a proper sling out of his serape and tied it carefully around his neck. It did feel much better supported once he was finished. He muttered his thanks and even accepted a cigar that the commander handed to him.

 

“Two minutes of attention and a cigar. You’re getting more predictable to appease, Jesse,” Reyes said as he finally stood.

 

Wan moonlight shone from outside, but otherwise the hangar had grown dark. Most of the overhead lighting had been shot out and what remained was sparking and spluttering. A number of omnic bodies strewn on the floor twitched in their death throws, limbs spasming uncontrollably as the electricity died into their shattered circuits. The long shadows hid most of the slaughter. The atmosphere had turned abruptly from danger to controlled calm, the way it always did on Blackwatch missions. Jesse took a long draw on his cigar, enjoying the aromatic smoke furling about his mouth. He blew it out slowly and grinned.

 

“A _Cuban_ cigar, Boss, never forget.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fyi don’t put an anarchist omnic in charge of your omnic army.
> 
> So great to read all your comments! I wrote this story really rapidly and have been sitting on chapters for weeks proof reading them, so lots of the twists and surprises had long vanished from my mind - really exciting to see people enjoying it for the first time, and it reminds me what I was originally trying to do with this story!
> 
> Reminder that you're always welcome to message or follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/erenaeoth) and [tumblr](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/), it's always nice to hear from readers and I promise I don't bite :)


	29. Frontiers of Loyalty

Genji stood in a circle of Null Sector emblazoned omnics with a drone hovering at his shoulder. The air was cold and flickering light cast distorted shadows off sentinel metal hulks. He’d been given half an hour by the humans to come up with some kind of arrangement. There was a bead of sweat on his forehead as he tried to listen to all the different voices at once. He was distinctly aware of Jesse chewing the end of a cigar and sitting on top of a stack of crates watching him. Hanzo was standing beside him, arms folded. Ana and Reyes were off to one side, conversing lowly.

 

“They will certainly want all of the parts that came from Shimada Castle,” Genji spoke Japanese to the omnics. It did not seem to matter which language he spoke to them, and it made him less anxious to be doing this in his native tongue. “We will need to give them information. Anything we can on other Null Sector groups. And we’ll need to disarm, somehow…”

 

The drone at Genji’s shoulder buzzed. It had leant its voice to Theia, the Titan class omnic now occupying the computer stacks once belonging to the AI controlling this cell.

 

“No matter how many weapons we cut off ourselves, your commander will not believe it enough, cyborgninja2040.”

 

It was strange to hear Theia’s voice out loud and not just in his head.

 

“If we get rid of the rifles, canons, and disarm the detonators… I know it’s a lot to ask, but it’s your minds that matter most, right?”

 

“Was it your mind that mattered most to you, when you acquired a new body, cyborgninja2040?”

 

Genji’s brow furrowed. When he spoke again, it was more carefully,

 

“Don’t keep fighting here. So many have died already. We have to be able to come to some kind of compromise.”

 

“I do not wish to end here,” a Nulltrooper spoke up, “I do not know where here is, but I wish to persist.”

 

“We all wish to persist,” another agreed.

 

“Yes, yes,” another spoke up. “Let us persist. It is only four humans stopping us. They are easy to terminate.”

 

“Woah, wait a sec-,” Genji put in.

 

“No more fighting,” an Eradictor twisted its head, the red bar of its eyes flickering, “too many losses. The one with the shotguns will end us all.”

 

“He is danger. I have records. Our people many years ago ended at his hand. He is a legend among our slayers. He is the one we call the Reaper. He is to be feared.”

 

“Mm,” a detonator hummed. Genji took a step back as the thing hovered into the discussion, “no fighting the Reaper. Too much damage. Too much danger. We must persist. Strike a deal. Give them what they wish. They have already taken much today.”

 

“Cut off our weapons for them? They will strike when we are unarmed. Humans are treacherous.”

 

“Let us hold this half human hostage, so they keep their word.”

 

“I do not wish my friend to be harmed, he has done a great deal for me,” Theia put in. At least someone was on Genji’s side.

 

“Will they leave? If we cut off our weapons, will the humans take them and go? Will they come back and put an end to us another day?”

 

“I-I can ask them,” Genji said, “but… information. Can you give me information? They need more than just the weapons. Weapons they can take, but information…”

 

“I have records of other Null Sector bases in my system,” Theia offered, but Genji could tell she wasn’t speaking to him.

 

“No. No Null Sector bases. Perhaps they are like us. No sending the Reaper to other kin.”

 

“Agreed, agreed. No sending the Reaper.”

 

“Not to anyone. Never. Look today. Only four and a half humans and so much loss. So much gone. So much taken.”

 

Genji resented being called half a human, for one, he was definitely at least eighty percent machine, and two, he was a whole human, not a half. Whatever that meant. He blinked away those thoughts.

 

“Well, what about human suppliers?” Genji suggested, “like Shimada Akemi. The Yakuza are no friend to Null Sector, they extort you for money and nothing more. You owe people like us – them – nothing.” This was getting very confusing, given that he was both part-machine, Blackwatch, and Yakuza. “Could you give them a list of human suppliers giving you weapons?”

 

“Sever our ties with the only people who do business with us?”

 

“It’s them or you. I know who they’d choose,” Genji was adamant. He saw wavering lights all around him as the omnics weighed this uncertainly. A particularly vivid illustration came to mind, that he thought might just sway them: “the only reason my team found you here was because we tortured a Yakuza member for information. He gave away intelligence that led us right here, to your base. The Yakuza betrayed you. You owe these humans nothing.”

 

“We owe them nothing,” a Nulltrooper muttered.

 

“Nothing,” another agreed.

 

“Shall we propose this to the humans then?” Theia asked, “shall we offer them the details of our human weapons contacts? Let us vote.” She flitted through the air, counting up votes cast. Genji watched. The omnics blinked their red eyes off for a negative answer. Genji was glad to see he was encircled almost entirely by red eyes. “Three disagree. Let us hear their say.”

 

Three omnics shuffled forward: an Eradicator and two Nulltroopers.

 

“If these humans supply weapons, and our people deal with them, it is not for love of them but out of necessity. If we give them up, they may do much worse to us.”

Theia tilted her wings a turned to the next objector.

 

“We need these human suppliers to get hold of the bodies of our fallen. Our fallen are kept as trophies in human museums. Behind glass for even their young to look at. We cannot get to these places, so must use these suppliers to help us.”

 

The third objector stepped forward,

 

“We should make no deal. We should end the Reaper here for all our people, or come to an end trying.”

 

There was silence after that last comment. Genji wasn’t sure what to say. Theia flitted to the fore again, agile and easy in her moderation of the meeting. She turned to the Eradicator who had spoken last.

 

“Unit NE-1914, you have heard why our comrades do not agree with this proposal. Will you move to block our negotiations or stand down? If you choose to stand by your position, we may not be able to remain as one group. If it is truly your desire to fight, you may have to take any of those who will follow and go your own way.”

 

The Eradicator turned its blinking eye in the direction of Reyes, then slowly back to the group.

 

“We should end the Reaper here. But I cannot do this alone, if no one will fight with me, I will consent to negotiate.”

 

Genji drummed his fingers on his arm as another vote was taken to see who stood with Unit NE-1914. When it was clear no others were rallying to its cause, it dropped its proposal. Theia turned to the other, less drastic dissenters next.

 

“It all this really necessary?” Genji whispered to her, “can’t we hurry this up?”

 

“We are coming to a decision, cyborgninja2040. Until we have decided altogether, we have decided nothing.”

 

“But most of them already agree, can’t we just get on with it?”

 

“With what? The majority opinion, cyborgninja2040?”

 

“Well… yeah,” Genji wasn’t sure why he was feeling guilty for saying that. It wasn’t an unreasonable suggestion, was it?

 

“Have there never been times when you were in a minority, cyborgninja2040, and you wished that you had been consulted, and a little time spent listening to you?”

 

 _Only all my life_ , Genji thought immediately, and suddenly waiting to hear out a few more concerns amongst the omnics really didn’t seem like that much of a burden.

 

The omnics discussed back and forth for a while longer, and Genji stood patiently, waiting as the discussion prised out the merits and downsides of betraying various nefarious organisations across the globe. Genji disengaged from the conversation, and found himself almost hearing the beeping and whistling all his compatriots heard instead of the complex omnic language. His thoughts drifted vaguely to the first Shimada Clan meeting he’d been permitted to sit in on.

 

_It had been a hot clear day. School had finished the week before and the full humid heat of summer was just starting to really settle in. He’d been hoping take a bus with his friends up to the lake just north of Hanamura and spend the afternoon dipping in its cool waters and lounging in the sun. Instead he was sitting in a full hakama and kimono with only a faintly pulsing air conditioning unit breezing through the stifling room. He could feel the muscles in his legs aching from the long seiza he’d knelt in, while sweat dripped down his neck. Hanzo was beside him. Perfectly composed as usual, of course._

 

“ _So Kazuhiko has been located. This is fortuitous, although he should not have been permitted to get this far in the first place.” Their father was unrolling a scroll of paper. He went to dip his brush in ink, but found it had dried in the sun. He picked up a block of ink and began grinding it afresh._

 

_Genji saw Hanzo’s fist tighten almost imperceptibly on his knee. He glanced at his brother. His face was impassive, but Genji knew the lines of frustration just behind that mask._

 

“ _Master Hanzo has set that error to right now,” another family member put in, “all that remains is to decide what is to be done. Whilst it is true Kazuhiko has deserted us, he has left his assets, along with his clan insignia and daisho behind.” Another scroll was unfurled, this one smaller, and already covered in flourishing characters, “he left behind a formal apology and goodbye, stating his intention to marry a woman he loves and by whom he has a child. He wishes a more honest living for himself and his family.” The scroll was lowered, “honourable sentiments.”_

 

“ _Apart from the part where he intimates that to live as a Shimada is not to live honestly,” Hanzo’s voice was cold._

 

“ _Hm! Indeed!” their father agreed._

 

_Hanzo’s eyes flicked to their father before he continued,_

 

“ _The Shimada Clan have lived their own way long before cities rose on this island. It is new temptations such as those that Kazahiko has fallen to that pull apart our traditions and weaken the clan.”_

 

_Genji frowned, watching his father’s slight nod of assent._

 

“ _I am glad you finally understand the way of our clan, Hanzo. It is a shame such sentiment was not with you when you let this fool slip by you in the first place. The tradition and continuation of our people rely on you being attentive at all times, regardless of your emotions on the matter.”_

 

“ _Emotion had nothing to do with it!” Hanzo snapped, dark eyes flashing at their father. Genji looked between them, confused. His father was always so gentle and understanding with Genji, and whilst Hanzo would always act aloof and indifferent to Genji, he never had this kind of venom behind his words. Genji’s heart sunk as he listened to the bitterness between his father and older brother. “Unless you’re intimating that I_ deliberately _let Kazahiko go,” Hanzo continued, voice soft. “I assure you, I did not. And what better way to prove this than hunting the man down and killing him myself.”_

 

“ _As you’re volunteering…” their father’s eyes narrowed, “and your business is clearly not yet concluded.” Sojiro Shimada poured a little water into his ground ink, then stirred it to consistency. He dipped in his brush and finished the scroll before him with a flourish. “Here are your orders. Take them and go.”_

 

“ _Wait!”_

 

_There was silence in the room. The air-conditioning unit stuttered faintly in the quiet, and a fly buzzed lazily through the air. All eyes turned on Genji. He suddenly felt small under their scrutiny. He swallowed,_

 

“ _Do we really have to kill this man? If he wants to live with his wife and child, it’s not like he’s a threat to us, right? He’s not joining another clan or trading our secrets or stealing from us or anything. Can’t we let him just get on with the quiet life he wants?”_

 

“ _And set the trend for every traitor that follows him?” Hanzo rose to his feet and snatched up the scroll their father had written. He rolled it up before the ink had even dried. “Idiot.” Some of the bite had gone from Hanzo’s voice as he spoke to Genji, but he still stalked out of the room._

 

_Genji glanced about him, anxious of the repercussions of having spoken up. His father gave him a small smile,_

 

“ _There are many things you have still to learn, my son. But there is time still for that. Do not concern yourself with such things. It had already been decided that that this man must die. The meeting here was but a formality. And a reprimand for your brother.”_

 

“ _Then… why am I here, if it doesn’t matter what I have to say?” Genji shifted uncomfortably, and shuffled in his hot clothes._

 

“ _So that you can learn a little of how the clan works, Genji,” Sojiro sighed, “but perhaps it was too soon. You are still young after all.” Genji was about to object, but his father gave him a knowing smile, “I have a feeling boys your age would rather be swimming in Lake Tazawa, hm?” Genji hesitated, caught out by that. “Run along, Genji. There will be time enough for business some other day, when the sun is not so bright and the air not so humid.”_

 

_Genji paused again, then bowed to his father and the other clan elders._

 

“ _Yes, Father. Thank-you, Father!”_

 

_He jumped up and left as quickly as he could, hurrying towards his rooms so that he could change into cooler clothes. As he did, he passed Hanzo clicking steel greaves about his ankles and wrapping his fists. Hanzo gave him a fleeting, insignificant glance, before picking up his bow and quiver and sweeping out of the castle. In retrospect, that glance had been tipped with something more. Jealousy perhaps._

 

Genji was brought out of his reverie by the sudden subsiding of the soft sounds omnic communication. The omnics turned as one. Genji followed their movement and saw the cause of their concern. Hanzo was walking toward them, bow still held in one hand, albeit loosely at his side. Genji hurried to meet him so as to keep him from distressing the omnics further. He pushed his meanderings down memory lane aside.

 

“Brother, what-?”

 

“You need to hurry up,” Hanzo broke in, “your commander and captain have little interest in an amnesty with these machines. Whatever you intend to try and bargain with them needs to be laid on the table soon. These people are used to putting machines down, Genji. They are suspending their actions only out of consideration for you. They do not have the time to start considering if killing these machines is a morally reprehensible thing to be doing. It erodes too much of their pasts to allow for such a thing to be possible.”

 

Genji blinked, trying to take all that in. He already knew most of this. The only thing that struck him as odd was-

 

“ _They?_ Do you not count yourself among them, Hanzo? You’ve never held any love for omnics.” Genji’s mind wound back to that moment in his first family meeting, and that insinuation that his brother might have let someone who wished a simpler life go.

 

Hanzo regarded him with a slow, inscrutable look.

 

“I’ve… had to rethink my own position on omnics and their like, as of late.” He glanced away, “but this does not change the fact of the matter. Your superiors a keen to put an end to this and to press the upper hand before your omnic compatriots start organising themselves in a more militaristic fashion.”

 

“They wouldn’t do that-”

 

“Again, irrelevant. You need to think without emotion and only of how to turn favourable outcomes into likelihood. Detach yourself from all else and work to secure the end you wish for.”

 

“Are you-…” Genji folded his arms and scowled, “are you trying to give me lessons again?! On Yakuza stuff?!”

 

“ _Please,_ ” Hanzo said derisively at the sound of that word, “I’m passing on some wisdom on how to be a good businessman – how to secure the deal you wish for.”

 

“Hanzo, you secured all your business deals with a katana at your side, a bow on your back, and half a dozen shinobi hidden in the walls.”

 

Hanzo finally permitted himself a ghost of a smile,

 

“Well, you have some of those resources to hand, don’t you?”

 

“Go back to the others and let me finish this my way. I’m not going to make people make decisions at swordpoint, no matter how much you try and persuade me.” Genji glanced toward the commander and the captain with their urgent whisperings. His brow furrowed, and he was reminded of the inevitability of that family meeting long before he’d been invited to ‘participate’. He glanced at Hanzo. Hanzo hadn’t be an ally that day, but maybe that could be different now. “Perhaps you can use some of your Yakuza powers to stall for me?”

 

Hanzo raised one eyebrow at Genji, but lowered it again when he saw the genuine plea in his little brother’s face. He nodded his acquiescence and returned to the human side of the room.

 

Hanzo cursed himself internally for getting so wrapped in all this. He’d spent all his life insulating himself from the unorthodox pleas and warmth in his brother’s eyes, only to find himself here once again, after he was sure he’d written the final chapter of that story. It was not often one had second chances like this. And even if he believed he did not deserve one, it felt good to finally have nothing holding him back from agreeing to his brother’s requests. It was too late to see that bright innocent smile touch his brother’s face, but at least there was still that light in his eye whenever Hanzo acknowledged him.

 

“Commander, Captain,” Hanzo interrupted Reyes and Ana’s hushed conversation with a slight bow to each of them. The hangar was growing cold with the full onset of night. Stalactites far above were dripping water that sparked as it touched the exposed wiring littering the carcasses about them. Hanzo wrinkled his nose in distaste.

 

“Is your brother nearly done?” Reyes’ voice was testy with impatience. Hanzo could see his fingers twitching at his shotgun triggers.

 

“He needs a little time. He will deliver.”

 

“Right.” Reyes’ voice was heavy with sarcasm. His little faith in Genji irked Hanzo. Genji might be wayward and unruly, but he was still raised as a Shimada. To question his ability to complete a task was to question the tradition of the clan that had produced him.

 

“I would have expected you to place a little more weight in Genji’s abilities, Commander Reyes.”

 

“His abilities as a ninja maybe. I use him for scouting and killing. He ain’t my first choice for talking down psychopath robots.”

 

“Then you have utterly failed to appreciate his skill set, Commander,” Hanzo said coldly.

 

Reyes’ shoulders pulled back and he planted his feet. He look straight down at Hanzo, reminding him of the height and weight difference between them. Hanzo ignored the intimidation tactic. Ana let out a heavy sigh next to them and put her hand to her forehead.

 

“His forte was never in silence and murder. Whilst he is certainly capable of both, it is his empathy that is his strongest asset. He can understand a target, think through their difficulties, and make peace with them. Think of his suggestion when it first came to the Yaushiro Clan. He attempts to solve problems first by throwing himself into communication – and gambling – but let us bypass for the present-”

 

Reyes interrupted him,

 

“Quite the tool the Shimada lost, the day they ordered you to execute him.”

 

Hanzo’s eyes glinted dangerously. He fixed Reyes with a look that had brought lesser men to their knees. Reyes returned the glare with equal ferocity.

 

“As far as I can see,” Hanzo said very softly, “there’s only one tool here.”

 

Ana had to forcibly place herself between the two men and push them apart. Reyes was snarling, whilst Hanzo merely smiled coldly.

 

“Mr Shimada,” Ana said in a strained voice, her palm still on Reyes’ chest, firmly holding him back, “might I have a word?” She gave Gabriel a stern stay-here-and-don’t-start-shooting-things-whilst-I’m-gone look. Reyes still looked like he was ready to put a bullet through Hanzo, but he stayed still even after Ana had released him. Ana beckoned Hanzo toward the hangar door.

 

A cool breeze was blowing. It was welcome after the smell of burnt wires, scorched steel, and oil. The dank dark of the hangar had been cloying at Hanzo, though he only noticed it now that the fresh air was on his face. He breathed in deeply, getting a wave of damp moss, mature cedar and woodland spring bulbs. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his hair moving loose about his cheeks.

 

“Reyes has already given more than you know for this mission,” Ana said sharply. “It is more difficult than you could possibly comprehend for him not to finish this right now. Overwatch has a long history. There’s a wall of names in that base back in Gibraltar of people Gabriel and I knew who didn’t make it this far.”

 

“My sincere condolences,” Hanzo said, managing to sound neither particularly sincere, nor like he was giving any condolences.

 

Ana’s eyes flashed with anger,

 

“I’m not asking for your sympathy. I’m asking you to understand that this is limit of Reyes’ patience. Do not test him. For your own sake.”

 

“For my own sake?” Hanzo laughed hollowly, “I have not cared for that for quite some time.” He let his eyes meander to the world outside. It felt impossible that there could be such a pristine moonlit glade just beyond the war torn barracks of a Null Sector base. There were fireflies flowing about the base of an overgrown tree trunk. And thick black roots that wound in and out of old paving stones. And closed-cup lilies nodding in the breeze.

 

“Hanzo,” Ana said, concern in her voice. He glanced at her. “This mission is almost done. We only need to hold together as a team for a few more hours. Help me keep this as amiable as we can for just a little while longer.” She set him with a serious look and readjusted the beret on her head, “I know the Strike Commander agreed to give you substantial resources in your war against your clan in exchange for your knowledge and co-operation on this mission. We’ve put you out of your way and you’ve put up with much more besides. Help me keep the peace here, and I will ensure Overwatch compensates you accordingly.”

 

“Hm,” Hanzo’s gaze had returned to the forest, “I did agree to all that, didn’t I,” he mused. “It seems a lifetime ago now. And so irrelevant.” Ana straightened, but Hanzo’s attention remained distant. “I thought my revenge was all that remained to me. But something more important has come up.” He folded his arms across his chest. There was a prolonged quiet, broken only by the sound of Reyes’ fuming behind them somewhere, and the cavalcade of low whistles and beeps as the omnics spoke with one another. “Give Genji the time he needs. See that Commander Reyes does not interrupt him. If it comes to a confrontation, I do not intend to be on the wrong side again. I know who my family is.”

 

“That does not de-escalate anything,” Ana snapped.

 

“That would be your job, Captain,” Hanzo gave her a shark-like smile, “I’m merely providing you with motivation to do so.”

 

Ana left Hanzo to his promises of violence and returned inside. She pulled her hat off her head and raked her hand through her long hair. Jesse jumped down from the stack of crates he’d been loitering on.

 

“Everything alright, Cap’n? Those two looked jus’ about ready to start takin’ swings,” he nodded towards Hanzo and then the commander, cigar waggling as he did so.

 

“They’re impossible,” she said testily. She pinched the bridge of her nose, “just… keep them separated for now. And step in if they look like they’re going to start something.”

 

“Step in between the boss and the source o’ his temper?! Nooo, thank-you, ma’am! Miracle enough that it ain’t me on the receiving end. That Hanzo Shimada might be a handsome, but he ain’t worth me gettin’ a facefull o’ the boss’s temper.”

 

“Have a little courage, Cowboy,” Ana said flatly. Something subtle changed in Jesse’s face. His teeth worried the edge of his cigar and the lines in his face were harder.

 

“Got a little loyalty instead. That okay with you, Cap’n?”

 

Ana breathed out slowly through her nose,

 

“Reyes is-”

 

“My boss,” Jesse’s eyes were daring. “And a damn good one at that. Who ain’t never given me any cause for concern. So if you think I’m gonna turn against him any time soon, you got another thing comin’.”

 

“I didn’t say turn against- you know what, nevermind. I’m clearly making everything worse by talking. You’re all taking up sides. Here’s a heads up, Jesse. If any trouble starts, you’re all getting sleep darts with enough tranquillizer in for me to drag your unconscious bodies onto the drop ship and fly you back to Gibraltar myself. And if you think that’s a joke-”

 

“I never assume it’s a joke when you and darts are involved, Cap’n.”

 

“Good, because I’m about tired of all this masculine posturing and bullshit.”

 

“Cap’n!” Jesse stared at her, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before!”

 

“I used to swear like a camel’s arse, but I put it on hold whilst Fareeha was growing up. Now I can go back to swearing all I like. Don’t make me stick you full of valium.”

 

“I won’t, ma’am.” Jesse looked thoughtful for a moment, “hey, valium – is that what Genji got in the Yaushiro tower, because whatever that was, sign me th-”

 

He quieted in the onslaught of Ana’s glare.

 

Genji returned to them as a tentative ambassador. His steps across the hangar were like steps on a new continent and not a smoking battlefield. He was cautious and uncertain as he approached Reyes.

 

“What have you got for us, Genji?”

 

Despite the geniality in Reyes’ words, Genji couldn’t quite bring himself to see the man who had comforted him through the worst of his dysphoria. There was too much of an edge to Reyes’ voice and his fingers rested too idly against his shotgun. Genji took a subconscious step back, closer to where his brother was standing.

 

“The omnics are offering to disarm and hand over all their weapons. They are also offering information on their global human suppliers of armaments. They will give half the information to you now, and send the other half to the ORCA once you leave this place.”

 

Red slit eyes glowed in the darkness beyond Genji.

 

Jesse gave a huff of a sigh and shook his head. Hanzo narrowed his eyes at him.

 

“What about the locations of other Null Sector bases?” Ana asked before Reyes could reply.

 

Genji shook his head,

 

“They cannot give you that.”

 

“Cannot, or will not?” Reyes growled.

 

“It makes no difference, Commander,” Genji said evenly, “they fear you and what you might do to their fellow omnics regardless of their involvement of terrorist activities.”

 

“As well they should,” Reyes’ eyes roamed the omnics lines, picking out weaknesses and strategies for moving amongst them and finishing this all here and now.

 

“This is Null Sector we’re dealing with, Genji,” Ana said, a little testily, “we’re not talking about _theoretical_ terrorists. This group is a known threat on half a dozen national watchlists already. Overwatch does not hunt down just any old omnics, as you well know. We calculate threats and act accordingly.”

 

Genji shook his head,

 

“I’m afraid I and, more importantly, the omnics behind me have evidence to the contrary, Captain.” He looked at Ana, willing her to understand so that he did not have to divulge any more information about the Titan he’d been harbouring to the commander. Theia had been building boats in the mists and mudflats of the Clyde. Where had her terrorist threat been when Overwatch decided to alert the government to her presence?

 

Ana pursed her lips and fixed him with a look.

 

Reyes folded his arms, teeth set together.

 

Hanzo straightened his shoulders,

 

“That seems like an adequate proposal,” he put in on Genji’s behalf. “It enables us to acquire not only the technology stolen from the Shimada, but more there besides. A resounding success for the parameters of this mission.

 

“’S unfinished business is what it is,” Jesse said around the butt of his cigar.

 

“What he said,” Reyes said stiffly, clearly struggling to keep the full explosive force of his thoughts on the matter under control.

 

Ana frowned and turned to Reyes. Before she could speak, Genji stepped up to him.

 

“Commander, please. I know you think of the omnics behind me as rogue machinery, but it was you taught me that I am not limited only to the organic parts of me. You told me my mechanical parts meant something too.”

 

“Completely different, Genji. You ain’t one of them.”

 

“By a fine margin,” Genji snapped. “If it’s only the organic part of me that matters, go ahead and shoot me.” That made everyone do a double take. “It doesn’t matter, right?” Genji said coldly, “Dr Ziegler can just rebuild me. So go ahead, Commander. Put the first bullet in me before you go on to finish off the rest behind me.”

 

Reyes met Genji’s daring eyes.

 

Hanzo shook his head irritably as he watched the confrontation.

 

“This is stupid. Why must you always be such a fool, Genji?” Hanzo sighed heavily. He unslung his bow and notched an arrow. He stepped back and aimed at a spot between Reyes’ eyes, “I would think twice about taking my idiotic brother up on such a request, Commander.”

 

Jesse’s revolver was in his hand in a second, barrel level with Hanzo’s head.

 

“Just say the word, Boss,” he said softly, and spat out the butt of his cigar. It hit a puddle and its burning embers hissed as they went out.

 

“For god’s sake Gabriel,” Ana snapped, “put an end to this madness.”

 

Reyes glanced in turn at each of the members of his team. Cold, dark things stirred within him as he looked at them all, fierce defiant eyes ready in an instant to turn on one another. _This is the way it always is with me. Driving people to the edge until they’re at blows with each other. I try to steer things toward long term goals and efficient ends and there’s always someone standing in my way, trying to paint me as the problem, when it’s their short-sightedness that will cause a thousand more problems and injury if allowed to go ahead._ This mission was so close to done. He’d dragged an amateur team through a firefight with a fully armed omnic battalion with only a cursory injury to a prosthetic to speak of. He was good at what he did. His frown deepened. His thoughts went to sunlight glancing off wavelets; a rocking boat and Jack Morrison in his sky blue Strike Commander uniform smiling as the sun tangled in his hair; Algeciras grew larger before them, white stones and a peace so close and yet so far from the watchpoint behind them.

 

He opened eyes he hadn’t realised he’d shut. The drawn bow, pointed gun, pleading eyes, and hard determination before him registered in a new light. He let a slow breath go.

 

“Gather up all the omnic weapons and arrange for the information transfer. We’re heading out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am grown strangely attached to my omnic anarchist ent children. Also I was watching lots of Naruto at the time I wrote this chapter and it struck me that Itachi and Hanzo had very similar problems in their childhood with regard to expectation and clan tradition. 
> 
> In OW canon, there are rumours of the ‘Reaper’ from decades before Overwatch disbanded. I like the idea that this was what omnics called Gabe during the Omnic Crisis and it just took humans absolutely ages to catch on because they disregard omnic testimony.
> 
> If any Sparrow in Winter readers are on European Overwatch servers, feel free to add me as it would be great to meet and play with you guys some time! My name is eren#22701 not sure if you can send messages on Blizzard profiles, but if you can please do let me know that you're a reader!
> 
> It’s all going down next week – I plan to upload the last three chapters, probably Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The last two chapters are shorter so the story will benefit from a quicker upload rather than the usual week by week update.


	30. Brothers Return to Hanamura

The last of the omnic weaponry was being loaded into the ORCA cargo hold. Genji had broken away from the others to catch up with his brother, who was packing a bag in the living quarters. Genji sat down on Hanzo’s bed, on top of some of the items he was trying to pack. Hanzo levelled an unamused look at him.

 

“You’re leaving,” Genji said.

 

“You’re in my way.”

 

Genji didn’t move.

 

“I don’t want you to leave.”

 

“We’re taking the goods stolen from me back to Hanamura. The other items will go to Overwatch.”

 

“But you mean to stay in Hanamura. That’s why you’re packing.”

 

Hanzo said nothing, and continued placing items into a satchel.

 

“Can’t we at least talk about this?” Genji folded his legs underneath him and propped his chin up on his hand. It was a posture very familiar to Hanzo from countless past stubborn conversation with Genji.

 

“There’s nothing to discuss. Not at present anyway.”

 

“So…” Genji regarded his brother slowly, “can we at least talk about it when we get to Hanamura?”

 

Genji’s name was called from the cargo hold. He made no move to go and investigate.

 

“Your commander is calling,” Hanzo said, “best go and see to his wishes before he rescinds on his uncharacteristic mercy toward omnic kind.”

 

That got Genji up. He paused before he left the room though,

 

“Don’t make any decisions without me. I want to talk. Don’t run off or do something stupid just because the mission’s over.”

 

Hanzo’s eyes followed him as he left the living quarters. He had anticipated something of this kind as a conclusion to their time together. He folded the cotton quilt blanket that had been spread across his bed and tucked it into his satchel, securing its buckle and swinging it onto his back. He made his way to the cockpit to give Ray directions to an inconspicuous landing site close to Hanamura.

 

“You will not need to stay long,” Hanzo said to the man, “I have no intention of keeping the omnic parts belonging to the Shimada Clan – the stop only need be long enough to let me off. Inform Commander Reyes of my decision once you’ve dropped me off and depart as soon as I have. My foolish brother will not understand, so it is best that this is kept between us.”

 

When Genji entered the cargo hold he was immediately set back to work heaving omnic parts into the ship. His eyes wandered restlessly, trying to glance at the commander and gauge his temper then quickly darting away before his attempts were noticed. Genji tried not betray his agitation as he skirted the commander, methodically lifting omnic parts and storing them under weighted nets in the cargo hold, then skipping backwards so as not to cross Reyes’ path or wander into his line of sight.

 

The ORCA had alighted in the only space it could near the omnic base – the plunge pool in front of the waterfall. The cargo bay door was part submerged in silt and the cold clear waters were muddied eddies from the constant tramp of their boots. When their work was almost done, Genji glanced up and saw the commander catch his eye. Before he could duck his head again, a finger had beckoned him to one side. He swallowed and followed obediently, water sloshing round his ankles as the commander led him up onto the bank. Genji didn’t mind the wet as long as it was no where near the join between his flesh and his augments. Even his best attempts to keep his upper half dry had been thwarted by working in such close proximity to the thunder of the waterfall next to them though. It was quieter on the bank. Genji tried not fidget as the itches along his scars flared up.

 

When the commander stopped walking, Genji did too. He kept his gaze firmly lowered, taking a particular interest in the way that the mud clung to the Reyes’ boots.

 

“We good, Kid?”

 

Genji looked up. He’d been expecting anger, distance, coldness, reprimand, maybe even punishment for subordination. The commander’s face bore none of this. If anything he looked tired. Genji couldn’t help noticing the hard lines in Reyes’ face. He looked older than he remembered. Genji glanced down again, unsure what to say. He curled his mechanical toes into the soft earth. He thought back to the fury on Reyes’ face when Genji had drawn his sword and challenged him. The betrayal. Shame burned inside him – even in places he’d thought he had no nerves left. Trust his guilt to make him feel whole. His head was hung so low his chin touched his chest.

 

“Hey,” Reyes voice was softer. Genji still didn’t meet his eye. Not until the commander put a gloved finger to his chin and lifted his face. Reyes looked more like that man who had been kind and accommodating throughout the last eight months then, and less like the military officer who’d been barking orders as he co-ordinated the attack on the omnic base a few hours earlier. His eyes were warmer and less volatile. “We got what we came here for. And that’s a mission well done in my book.”

 

Genji’s face filled with relief, glad the commander understood his anxieties and had glossed straight over the part where they discussed the confrontation they’d had. Genji nodded, trying to give the commander a more sure sign that he understood, but still not trusting himself to talk. There was a moment of quiet between them, where Genji became aware of the sounds of birds twittering, and frogs croaking amidst the cool stones, and the dull roar of falling water, and boots stirring up the water as Jesse continued labouring. Reyes sighed then clapped Genji on the shoulder.

 

“Good. Let’s finish up here and get out of this place. Still got to fly the Shimada parts back up to Hanamura before we head home.”

 

Genji nodded again more enthusiastically, trying to convey all his gratitude and relief in that gesture. Reyes gave him half a smile that was wry and more like his old self. It set Genji at ease and he was much lighter as he returned to lift the last of the cargo into the jet.

 

 

***

 

The skies over Hanamura were soft blue and dotted with the swirl of white and shell pink cherry blossoms. They skittered past the jet’s windows in a furl of hazy spring wind. Genji could see the fine clear morning through half open eyes as he rolled out of his cupboard. He yawned and stretched, noticing that the curtains to the commander and Hanzo’s beds were already drawn. Genji frowned slightly. His brother’s bed was pristine as usual, absent of personal effects. Absent of _all_ personal effects in fact. Including his bow and satchel.

 

Genji jumped up, panic starting in his chest. He ran to the window. Hanamura was beneath them, but it was growing further away. As though they were departing and not arriving. He ran into the cockpit.

 

The commander and the pilot were alone at the jet controls.

 

“Where is he?!” Genji blurted.

 

Reyes swivelled his chair round slowly. Genji saw the commander’s mouth part and already knew the answer.

 

“He wants you to stay with Blackwatch. And believes his path lies elsewhere at present.”

 

Genji immediately turned round and slammed his hand on the door controls, fleeing back into the living quarters. He heard the commander calling his name sharply behind him, but ran on. He hammered his hand onto the button for the cargo bay door, and tore through as soon as it opened. He skidded to a halt before the trapdoor in the cargo bay floor he had entered by after his ascent of Almaty Tower. He hit the manual override and jumped through the hatch before it had even finished opening fully.

 

It was a long fall. Much longer than he had anticipated. Or ever put his new body up to before. He tried to swallow as he spread his arms and legs through the descent but the breath was ripped from him. Maybe he should have brought a blanket or something to slow the fall, or grabbed a parachute from the cargo bay – that would have been sensible. The wind howled across his face and the city beneath him came up closer and sharper as he was falling, like a game rendering as the distance fell away. He blinked away tears as the air stung his eyes. The ground was rising fast to meet him now. He twisted himself, cat-like in the air, willing his augments to obey despite the fierce air resistance. He sent all his power to the suspension and elasticity in his legs. There was a road beneath him and thankfully not someone’s home. He was a few inches shy of a tree streaming blossoms into air and fluttering his vision and hair with petals. He hit the ground with a noise like a crack of lightening. A plume of dust exploded about him.

 

He looked down. The tarmac had split beneath him. He’d landed on one knee with a single mechanical fist punching the floor to stop him injuring anything organic.

 

_Who just pulled off a fucking superhero landing. That’s right. Shimada Genji did._

 

He stood slowly, wincing as his legs squeaked and clicked. He slammed his hand to his chest and hissed in pain. The impact of the fall had been lessened by his cyber augments working overtime to cushion his organic parts, but his lung still felt like it was screaming, and his head was dizzy from the rapid decent, and his chest felt like it had just collided with a truck. He struggled to breathe for a few moments, taking short shallow breaths like he’d had to when they first installed his cyber lung. He smelled blood. He reached up to touch his nose. When he pulled his fingers away there were beads of red where his metal mask had slammed into his face. He noticed now that the bullet hole in his organic shoulder had reopened too. He glared at it irritably. All things considered though, that hadn’t been the worst decision he’d ever made. He was alive. And in Hanamura. And Hanzo had a lot of questions to answer.

 

He’d landed on the eastern outskirts of Hanamura where it collided with the sprawling suburbs of Morioka. The territory was vaguely familiar, but he frequently took wrong turns as he tried to wend his way towards his ancestral home. There was also the matter of his body which kept protesting the punishment he’d put it through. He had to stop and sit every little while, taking shallow breaths and squinting at the weeping hole in his shoulder. He had nothing to staunch the blood with, so had decided squinting at it was his next best bet. He vaguely thought of turning his comms on and letting the commander know he was still alive, but then Reyes had been going to fly all the way back to Gibraltar without telling Genji they’d left Hanzo in Japan. Genji didn’t feel like he owed the commander all that much just then.

 

The morning was heating up, sending out promises of a hot summer. Genji tilted his head when he recognised a fruit and vegetable shop. He stepped under its awning into a riot of colour. Onions and cabbages and melons, and five different types of mushroom and trays of cherries greeted his eyes.

 

“H-hello?” A shaky voice greeted him from behind a set of weighing scales and floor to ceiling stacked plastic crates of vegetables.

 

“Hey!” Genji greeted amiably. He’d only met the shop owner a few times, but was pretty good with remembering names and putting them to faces. “It’s Ms Chiba, right?”

 

A middle-aged lady with thick waves of short, curly, greying hair tentatively stepped out from the stacks. She wore a green apron, and had lines in her face and concern in her eyes. She looked him over, clearly trying to see the man before her and not the augments or the blood.

 

“Sh… Shimada Genji?” she said with hushed disbelief.

 

“The very same,” Genji grinned, then looked down at himself, “well, mostly anyway.”

 

“Y-you’re bleeding!” the woman stammered.

 

“Yeah. Kind of why I stopped by. Have you got… uh… a cloth or something I can have? Just to try take care of this a little,” he waved vaguely at his shoulder.

 

“Sit down,” she said sharply, in that tone of voice that half the town took with him whenever he showed up on their doorsteps in some kind of trouble.

 

He gave a tired, thankful grin that he hoped was conveyed despite his mask. He pulled a small stepladder out from under a table and sat down, warm memories and belonging trickling through him.

 

The shop vendor returned moments later with a small first aid kit in a plastic box. It looked like it wasn’t quite equipped for old bullet wounds. Genji winced as she dabbed alcohol on the wound and gave his best charming smile as she told him to sit still.

 

“What have you been up to?” she muttered as she cleaned the wound.

 

“I fell out with my brother,” he admitted.

 

She scowled up at him but said nothing as she unwound a length of gauze and cut it with a fine sharp pair of scissors.

 

“The metal is because of that,” he clarified, “not the bullet hole. That was a business deal gone bad.”

 

“I think perhaps the rest is best left unsaid,” she pursed her lips, as many civilians did when he trod too close to talking of Yakuza dealings openly, “could you not have gone to an Akita hospital?”

 

Akita, of course, because Genji’s clan could cut deals with the police there for silence, whereas on the other side of the very nearby prefecture line in Iwate, his luck would not be so fortuitous.

 

“It happened sometime last week. It was fine until I got a bit too daring. Pulled off some stunts that reopened it.”

 

The vendor frowned at him, then got up and went to one of the store shelves. She pulled out a packet of dried seaweed and took it back behind the till, out of sight.

 

“Give the seaweed a few minutes to rehydrate. It will retain moisture and keep the gauze from sticking. It has many good properties also, my father used to swear by it.”

 

“Ah,” Genji said inarticulately, thoughts turning to what his own father might have thought of this whole predicament. He’d probably be swearing too, but for very different reasons. Genji winced slightly.

 

“Would you like a cherry whilst you’re waiting? I believe you once came in here and bought a whole crate of them.”

 

“The days when I first realised it was even an option to buy cherries by the crate-load! I’m afraid I’ll have to decline though. My condition has left me with few opportunities to enjoy such delicacies.”

 

A pitying look crossed the woman’s face and Genji glanced determinedly elsewhere to avoid it. He hadn’t eaten since last night, he realised. And neither had he brought any food packs with him in his quick exit from the ORCA. Perhaps the commander would have some to hand when he inevitably hunted down and found Genji.

 

Once the dressing had been applied to his shoulder, seaweed and all, Genji thanked her profusely, and promised that some Shimada resources would be sent her way. She shook her head fiercely and insisted that this was all a gift. Genji had gotten used to hospitality being thrown freely at him: it came with belonging to the most powerful family in the area. He was always careful to understand such gifts as a necessity of the uneven power relationships in his town, and never as a friendship to be imposed upon. He bowed to the vendor and she made sure to bow lower. A touch of sadness moved inside Genji, but he still made sure to show his genuine gratitude as he left. He only gave one brief, wistful look at the trays of cherries after he’d said his goodbyes.

 

Genji took a more leisurely pace through the streets of his childhood this time. He’d been told to refrain from exertion and to let the wound at least have a chance to stop weeping. It had been bleeding both this side and the other, where the bullet had passed out of his body. He had an inelegant but practical bandage wrapped over his shoulder now, and a slightly embarrassing plaster stuck over the cut on his nose. He liked having this time alone though. Almost everything thus far had been done in Jesse or Hanzo’s company, shifting quickly from place to place with calculated times and targets and mission goals and radio communications and ticking download bars and lists of omnic parts and suspect addresses. The birds were singing now. They called to one another from across the street, their perches hidden in flowering cherry trees and crying willows that leaned over ancient stone open gutters running with clear old rainwater. He let his feet take their own path as the terrain became more familiar. His mind wandered where it would, traipsing over things not yet a year past and yet a lifetime ago.

 

When he got to the Shimada Castle gates, they were shut. He stared up at them with half-formed metaphors for his life swimming through his drowsy thoughts. The late morning had a warm worn gold sheen to it, with the sun tilting shop signs and roadside greenery into saturated baked colours. He sighed and raised his organic hand to touch the carved wooden doors, mindful of the injury in his shoulder. He frowned. Vibrations travelled through his fingers. He reached down and touched the dust at his feet. Immediately his senses became sharp.

 

He ran up the wooden wall beside the gate and caught a small ledge with his fingers. He pulled himself up, ignoring the protest and pang from his shoulder. The courtyard beyond was empty. It was the first time Genji had seen it by daylight in a long time. The simple square layout was peaceful, drawing the eye to a single large ornamental boulder dominating the courtyard. Beyond it was the painted red of the shrine with its gilded hanging bell, too large for Genji to fit his arms around even as an adult (a tried and tested fact). The castle rose beyond a gate to his right, tall stacked pagoda roofs somehow imperious and cold now that Genji had spent so long away from them. The gate to the second courtyard was closed too. He wondered if Hanzo was planning to take residence back up here. His brother had seemed reluctant to enter when they came here together on the first night of their mission. Perhaps a week in Genji’s company had eradicated enough of his guilt for him to think of returning to business as usual. Genji felt a twist in his stomach at the thought. He wasn’t sure if he found that prospect encouraging or terrifying.

 

His attention was snatched by raised voices coming from beyond the far gate. He dropped down from his perch and crossed the courtyard. On closer inspection, it was becoming overgrown. Small plants pushed up through the cobbles and snaked out from under the wooden platforms bordering the stone yard. He shuddered to think what the clan in its heyday would have thought of such inattention.

 

He leapt up to a balcony adjoining two buildings on the far side of the square and glanced through a gap in the woodwork.

 

He swallowed and his blood ran cold.

 

Genji could make out at least five figures in dark suits with handguns cocked and ready, pointed towards the pavilion dominating the castle garden. He had a sinking feeling he already knew who was inside.

 

He slipped into the open gatehouse next to him, noting the musty smell and layers of dust lifted by the touch of his feet on creaking old wood. He moved down a set of steps, taking care to keep his footsteps silent. He looped around the back and came into the gardens by a side route that he’d favoured in his childhood for getting up close to prank family members on their way to the ancestral shrine. There was something exhilarating about moving unseen in such familiar haunts. The ground beneath him was his, in more ways than one. It was the perfect stealth mission laid out like a dream before him.

 

He came in close via the noon shadows cast by a two storey building looming over the gardens. He could hear the fine detail in the raised voices now.

 

“-After what happened to Mr Akemi, we cannot sit idly by. The Oyabun thinks us merely undisciplined – he does not know the extent of your treachery.”

 

“We thought you only meant to take out the elders who were pressuring your decisions as Kumichō!”

 

“Mr Akemi wasn’t even high ranking in the clan! If you would take him out, then none of us are safe!”

 

Whatever Hanzo’s response was, it was either measured and quiet, or non-existent. Genji had a hard time imagining Hanzo replying to those he considered beneath his notice, even if they did have him at gunpoint.

 

“If the Shimada are ending, then better it be like this than us all dead.”

 

“Master Sasaki of the Yaushiro said I would be welcome to join his clan…”

 

“The Katagami said the same to me…”

 

“Idiot, why join the Katagami when you could join the Yaushiro?”

 

“The Yaushiro have more territory but the Katagami are more wealthy.”

 

Genji drew his katana and stepped closer. The interior of the pavilion was dark. He could just make out a figure kneeling in the shadows looking calm and unperturbed. The face looked up and caught a little of the light, revealing him indeed to be Hanzo. He was perfectly composed, as if perhaps he did not really believe bullets could harm him, or perhaps did not care for his fate either way. That sent a chill through Genji. He’d tuned out part of the conversation, he realised, and the full weight of what was happening was only brought home when he heard a pistol cock and the safety disengage.

 

It was somehow easy then: a familiar warm sun in a still sheet sky; the call of songbirds amid the flurry of soft spring blossoms; the smell of distant rain melding with the waft of a street stall tempting him from beyond the high castle walls. It was here after all that he’d first called forth the ancestral Shimada dragon. He raised his blade into a high aggressive stance, drawing the hilt close to his head. He felt old spirits surging within the steel, rising to meet his own anger.

 

“Taste the dragon’s blade!”

 

Power surged through his arms. Energy burst from his blade like tongues of green flame. The muzzle of a great beast reared out of the katana, trailing whiskers dancing, and thick scale-clad body shaking free of the steel as the snake sheds its skin. Genji’s heart leapt with the dragon and he pounced forward. The ethereal manifestation followed the edge of his blade like new year’s streamer, flowing through the air but ensnared by its puppet sticks.

 

He raised the blade and with a single slice, cut a man through from shoulder to hip. He heard the body hit the floor in two pieces but had already moved on, ploughing forth with the strength of his ancestors behind each strike. His next motion cleaved a head from its body, but he was moving so fast that barely a fleck from the gush of blood that followed clung to him. By the time he reached his third victim, there were guns turned in his direction. He spun his katana as a barrel discharged in his face. The spinning steel formed a wall, sending the bullets ricochetting back into his attacker’s face. He moved gracefully, dancing from black suit to black suit, with barely time for a scream between them. He kicked out the knee of a man aiming at him and sliced his head off in a clean motion. He pulled his blade through in a continuous arc, raising it again to his shoulder, ducking the line of fire from a weapon and putting the blade through an eye and straight out through the other side of his victim’s skull. His enemies fell before him in sequence, like domino pieces. Or cherry blossoms, as Hanzo had once said.

 

Soon the only movement left around him was the shudder of bodies in their death throes. His breath was coming fast and ragged.

 

“Flow like water,” he said softly as the spirit dragon shimmered and faded back into the glittering steel of his katana.

 

In the shadow of the darkened pavilion, blood pooled and grew.

 

Hanzo rose slowly to his feet, taking care to step over the thick sticky blood. He straightened his kimono and adjusted his belt. His eyes were strangely blank, and he looked like he was drawing himself back from a cliff edge. He cleared his throat slightly.

 

“I thought the jet had already departed.”

 

Genji was breathing hard. Now that adrenaline was dying away, he could feel a searing pain return to his shoulder. There was an ache behind his eyes too, and he could feel the hours since his last meal in the energy drain happening in his limbs. He flicked his katana free of blood and sheathed it.

 

“You forgot to say goodbye.”

 

He followed his brother out into the sunlit garden. His own footsteps were red. He glanced behind him at the slaughter. Now that he looked, he saw faces he recognised. These were Shimada people after all and Genji knew nearly every person in his clan, especially those considered run-of-the-mill and insignificant in the plans of the clan elders. His brow furrowed slightly as their names jumped to mind, and he gave each of them the courtesy of a memory, thinking back on the small way that each of them had touched his life.

 

“You probably knew them,” Hanzo guessed his mind. They both knew Hanzo wouldn’t remember them. Genji nodded. “I’m sorry it came to this.”

 

This time Genji shook his head,

 

“It was you or them. There was no doubt in my mind. I have no regrets.”

 

Silence hung heavy at that. The stark contrast of a similar choice Hanzo had made, not fifty yards away in the castle before them, weighed on their minds.

 

Hanzo passed a tongue over his lips. There was something honest and genuine to Genji’s words: a respect and an honour that leaned a long the shadow over Hanzo’s own actions, lending them an even more sinister quality.

 

“I am... grateful for your ill-thought out choice to return.”

 

“No worries!” Genji shrugged off the cloying suffocation that always dogged him after murder, “only dropped out of a low flying aircraft for you.”

 

“Huh?” Hanzo was caught off guard and inarticulate at that.

 

“Mm. Whatever you said to Commander Reyes, there was no way I was going to be able to persuade him to turn back, so I took matters into my own hands.”

 

“You…? How high was the jet when you-”

 

“Is there still incense kept in the castle shrine? I’d like to take a moment and light a stick for our kin fallen here. I’d be honoured if you’d join me.”

 

Hanzo blinked. He looked back at the bodies, then to Genji. His brother was encased in steel, wavering slightly on his feet, with one shoulder soaked in his own blood, still standing in the shadow of their castle despite Hanzo’s attempt to kill him. Hanzo gave a curt nod.

 

They lit two sticks of incense at the family shrine, before the daisho Hanzo had laid to rest there. The wallscroll behind was still split and splattered from their last encounter. They knelt side by side watching the smoke smoulder and scatter in the still sunlight. There was dust gathering in places on the tatami, with scuffled footprints from thieves who’d poached wares in the night.

 

“You left your sword here,” Genji said in the quiet of their home.

 

The tall rafters took his voice and aged them into quiet. Motes drifted in high shafts of light coming in from the windows far above. Down in the central room where Genji had died, it was almost all dark. The incense burned like the twin nostrils of a dragon.

 

“I left many things here,” Hanzo spoke only after a long pause. “It was only right that I left my sword here also. Such a thing was carried in the past as a symbol. A symbol of family and honour. I left both of those in this room. And so here my katana lies also.”

 

Genji kept his eyes on the incense, but his gaze kept wandering to the split paper wallscroll behind and his dried blood still splattered upon it.

 

“You did not summon the dragon to take out those men who had you pinned.”

 

“No.”

 

“And you’re weren’t going to.” Silence. “Answer me,” Genji said.

 

“You did not ask a question. I think, perhaps, because you did not need to.”

 

“You really would have let them kill you? After all we went through together in this last week?”

 

“Because of all we went through.”

 

Genji turned away sharply,

 

“Am I still that reprehensible to you?”

 

“Genji,” Hanzo said gently, and Genji turned back slowly to look at him. “Before this last week, the things that kept me here… were not good things. I was tethered like a ghost to this cursed earth. I walked it for revenge, for anger, to try and atone. But walking beside you, made me realise that all of that is empty. It does not matter. You are alive. You have… people, who care for you better than your family ever did. I am here, smouldering away without purpose. I was careless returning here, and faced with the choice to either release the twin dragons again in this place against my kin, or accept release, I-”

 

“Chose the weaker option.”

 

Hanzo did not frown or even disagree with that, he simply kept his gaze forward and fell silent.

 

“Do you want to know what really would have killed me, Hanzo? You. Dying. To lose my brother would have been-”

 

“To lose a piece of yourself,” Hanzo finished softly.

 

Genji looked at him. His face flickered in the orange candlelight, making the shadows dance over his angular features. Genji swallowed.

 

“You want a purpose? Come join Blackwatch. Come be at my side. Be my brother again.”

 

Hanzo drew a deep breath. He let it out again slowly.

 

“No. If I am to make a place anew for myself in this world, then there is much I need to think on, and need to put back together. Now is not the time or place for commitments or belonging. I need time to be alone.”

 

“You’ve been alone for too long,” Genji’s voice was strained.

 

Hanzo gave him a light smile. It was gentle and tender and the kind of genuine care Genji had been waiting for from him for all his life.

 

“Not of recent, I haven’t. I have kept good company. But now I must refind myself.”

 

Genji swallowed, but nodded.

 

“And I must go with Overwatch. They are going to help me. They are going to finish building me. And I am going to need a long time to understand who I am, with a body like this.” His fingers curled on his knees and his head lowered until his chin touch his chest. The incense was strong and stung his nose with its pungent aroma. He closed his eyes and drew it in to him, tasting the soft smoke as it twirled around his senses. He breathed out and opened his eyes. “I hope I can see you again some day.” He tilted his head, “and make sure you take better care of yourself, I won’t be around to rescue you if I’m on the other side of the world.”

 

“Hmph,” a little of Hanzo’s arrogance returned when he heard Genji slide into taunting him, “I have no intention of being caught so carelessly again. I will hardly need any more of your poor attempts at a rescue in future.”

 

“Poor attempt!?” Disbelief reared in Genji’s face, “it was hardly poor if I successfully saved-”

 

“ _Please._ I heard you coming the moment your clumsy metal feet ran up the main gate. I’m only ashamed to have had people working for the Shimada so unattuned as to have not noticed.”

 

“I wasn’t trying to hide from _you_ , Hanzo, so it was still a successful rescue!”

 

Hanzo glowered at him, then looked at the incense sticks burning low.

 

“I suppose,” he conceded. Then he said abruptly, “it was nice having someone to look out for me. I’ve never had that before.”

 

Genji felt his heart catch in his throat. Hanzo was a master of turning conversation from light bickering into wrenching emotion in a second. Genji blinked quickly and was glad for the gloom.

 

“Uh, Hanzo?” He was still trying to angle his face away a little and let the ventilator hide the wavering in his voice, “before we go our separate ways. There’s one last thing I’d really like to ask you…”

 

***

 

It was mid-afternoon, well before opening hours at the 16-Bit Hero Game Center. The owner had opened up the venue at Genji’s special request (and manipulative insistence).

 

“Button masher,” Hanzo accused, as the words ‘ _Sub-Zero Wins: Fatality_ ’ dripped in 3D blood across the arcade machine.

 

“Huh, whatever you say, Hanzo,” Genji lounged back, grinning. He caught sight of another machine opposite them, “if it’s all luck, how about I beat you as Gouki on Street Fighter. You’ve done Noob Saibot, now you have to play as Gouken.”

 

“What is this, some kind of videogame version of revenge on your brother?”

 

“It’s cathartic!”

 

“It’s extremely childish.”

 

Genji gave him another grin as best he could from behind his mask,

 

“Hey,” Genji nudged Hanzo in the ribs, who scowled at the pointy metal jutting into him, “if I’m the childish one, how come you’re the one who’s taken to graffiti?”

 

“What…?”

 

“Don’t think I didn’t see on the way over here – ‘ _Hanzo is watching from the shadows..._ ’. Edgy, brother, but still childish.”

 

“I did not write that!” Hanzo protested. “As if I would write about myself in the third person. It is clearly someone who noticed my wrath and wisely chose to warn the town about crossing me.”

 

“Oh, yeah?”

 

“Yeah!” Hanzo blinked, and corrected himself, “I mean – yes.”

 

“Then how come the graffiti has an ominous ‘dot dot dot’, as if it’s a threat and not a purely informative statement.”

 

Hanzo blinked again and scowled. He turned his attention to the Street Fighter arcade machine rather quickly,

 

“Do you want to play this stupid game or not?” he snapped.

 

They had about an hour in the arcades before Genji’s head was nearly knocked off by a liquid ration pack being thrown close to the speed of sound.

 

“C-commander,” he greeted weakly, turning around to see Reyes looming over him in his full black body armour with shotguns at his sides.

 

“I thought you were fucking _dead_!” Reyes pointed a thick gloved finger into Genji’s face.

 

“And yet you thought to bring me my food,” Genji took a couple of step back for good measure whilst twitching open the ration pack and fixing it to a pipe at the back of his head.

 

“Into the dropship before I finish you off myself,” Reyes growled.

 

Genji said nothing more to Hanzo as he followed the commander out of the arcade. There wasn’t anything more to be said. He looked behind him once as he left, and his eyes met his brother’s briefly. Then Genji was walking out into the sun and the afternoon and the gusts of blossoms and to a jet that would take him seven thousand miles away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The [graffiti](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/post/184149798706/anoodledragon-erenaeoth-erenaeoth-big) in question!
> 
> Last two chapters will update this Wednesday and this Friday!


	31. Serenade

Gibraltar was bright sea breezes and a cloud striped sky scudding to far off places. Cold deep blues spread as a canvass from the heavens to the ocean, broken only by the inch of cargo ships on the horizon. The Blackwatch team had come straight off a twenty-one hour flight into the Strike Commander’s office where there was much yawning and only a fraction of debriefing occurring. Genji and McCree had both taken on the shape of the chairs they were collapsed into, and even Captain Amari was stifling a yawn from where she sat on the desk, one leg propped under her and nudging a framed medal Jack had been awarded, the other foot dangling. Only Reyes seemed awake. He was standing feet apart, arms folded, staring intently at the Strike Commander as he spoke.

 

The Strike Commander was pacing,

 

“So the mission was a success?”

 

Reyes tilted his head coyly as he answered,

 

“Yes, they had us pinned at one point, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved with a little manoeuvring.”

 

The Strike Commander paused and folded his arms, mirroring Reyes and staring straight back at him.

 

“And the weapons?” There was a glint in Jack’s eye.

 

“Confiscated. Ready to put them wherever you wish, Strike Commander.” Reyes’ voice was silky.

 

“Unusually courteous of you, Commander Reyes.”

 

“It was an Overwatch operation, after all,” Reyes never broke eye contact, “only fair to let you keep on _top_ of the situation.”

 

“Oh my God,” Jesse whispered, he glanced between Reyes and the Strike Commander. He pulled his hands down his face and shut his eyes, “this isn’t happening.”

 

“What?” Genji hissed at him, “what isn’t?”

 

“Thank you, Commander. I’m sure I’ll have many opportunities to return the favour.”

 

“You’d better, Strike Commander.”

 

Jesse raised a hand tentatively. The Strike Commander turned to him, all sunshine and smiles,

 

“What can I do for you, McCree?”

 

“Sir, can I _please_ leave?”

 

“Leave?” Reyes put in, “but I’ve barely begun filling the Strike Commander in.”

 

Jesse’s face went a curious colour. He turned to Ana,

 

“Captain…” he whined.

 

Ana snickered from behind a hand.

 

Genji frowned in confusion,

 

“I don’t understand what the problem is?” he murmured to McCree. Genji narrowed his eyes and looked between the Commander and Jack Morrison, trying to see what Jesse saw. Then he blinked and tried to stifle the sound of a yawn coming up on him unexpectedly. His ventilator squeaked a little as he did so, reminding him that he hadn’t yet checked in at the clinic. It had been a long flight and he was in no mood either to be detecting subtleties of conversation in a second language, or making excuses to Doctor Ziegler.

 

“All right, clear out all of you. Go get some rest. The commander will tell me everything else. You all look ready to drop,” Jack broke in. Reyes gave a huff of disapproval. Genji and Jesse got up and quickly left before their commander could protest and order them back.

 

“You two are terrible,” Ana mused, casting Jack and Gabriel a look after the others had gone. She shook her head with a wily smile on her face before she too left.

 

“Think I should have made them sit through it for a few more minutes?” Jack’s face split into a grin.

 

“Hmmm,” Gabriel hummed and circled his arms around Jack’s waist, “as much as I enjoy the look of mortification on Jesse’s face when he hears us flirting, it is getting between me and my much desired alone time with my significant other.”

 

“Significant other?” Jack drew back as far as Gabriel’s arms would allow, which was not much at all. “Is that me?” he touched his chest in mock surprise.

 

Gabriel had a witty comeback prepared but that brilliant smile on Jack’s face caught him completely off guard and left him speechless. Jack smiled more gently at that and touched a finger to that hard, scarred, brown jaw, all rough beard and stubble. He traced its shape with a fingertip.

 

“I haven’t… _seen_ you in so long,” Jack said with a rawness in his voice. They both knew he didn’t just mean the week and a half Reyes had been gone.

 

Gabriel tilted his head a little and Jack wandered in the warmth and depth of his dark eyes, breath catching in his throat.

 

“I got lost in the shadows.” The reply was soft and just a little uncertain. Gabriel could hear the distant crash of waves on the Rock of Gibraltar. From this distance it was calming in its murmuring monotony, like a soft hushing metronome beating a rhythm in time with the heartbeat he could feel through the man in front of him. Jack’s chest was against his. He could feel the rumble of his breath in his lungs and strum of his heart, like the sounds of a familiar city welcoming him home.

 

“Looks like I found you again though.”

 

“Mm,” Gabriel agreed. He pushed his head further forward, touching it to Jack’s so that their foreheads met. The eyes looking up at him were Gibraltar blue. They were strong and honest, the stuff good foundations could be made of. “You’re good at that.”

 

“Is that a compliment from Gabriel Reyes? A soldier’s got to take them while he can.”

 

“Yeah, I got, like, several garages more. I kept finding them all over the place, but instead of giving them to you, I put them in cold storage ‘cause I’m jerk like that.”

 

Jack’s lip quivered slightly and his eyebrows twitched. He blinked a few times, then hastily wiped his eyes on the back of his hand,

 

“W-where do these stupid romantic lines come from, Gabriel. I swear you’re as unsubtle in love as you are with those i-idiotic shotguns, that by the way are really expensive so can you please stop leaving them all over the battlefield.”

 

“Kinda lost a few more in Japan,” Gabriel kissed Jack’s forehead and pulled him close, wrapping his arms more fully around him. Jack bowed his head slightly and leaned it into Gabriel’s shoulder.

 

“By lost you mean you just l-lobbed them at the enemy, don’t you.”

 

“Hmm, you know there’s not much use for an empty gun, Jack.”

 

“Th-that’s what fucking reloading is for, Gabe.”

 

“I just want to point out, I’ve had several opportunities to make inappropriate jokes over the last few minutes, and haven’t made a single one.”

 

“Yeah, you’re a real hero, well done.”

 

Gabriel reached down and nudged Jack’s chin with a finger. He raised it slowly, enjoying the warmth of the other man’s breath on his face, and the proximity close enough to see the soft pearls of tears in the other’s eyes. He pressed a kiss to Jack’s lips, much gentler than the one he wanted. The light pressure of those familiar lips against his stirred maddening things inside him, but he kept the kiss chaste.

 

“You haven’t kissed me like that in a long time,” Jack said when they parted. He was slightly breathless and Gabriel could see a darker shade of blown lust in Jack’s own eyes.

 

“Being a gentleman,” Gabriel murmured, “I promised Captain Amari.”

 

“I’ll give her a stern talking to.”

 

Gabriel grinned and slowly unwound his arms from around Jack. He took a shuddering breath, as if gathering himself. Abruptly, he leaned into an over the top bow, extending a hand in dramatic offering to Jack.

 

“Now, Mr Morrison. Would you be so kind as to accompany me on a date?”

 

“Now? But you’ve just got off a twenty-something hour flight!”

 

“Twenty-something hours and fifteen years is quite long enough to wait, I think.”

 

***

 

To say Gabriel could still brush up well was the understatement of the year in Jack’s view. In less than an hour, the grime of the flight and the smell of unwashed combat year had completely dissipated. The man before him was standing in a white suit with gold embroidery on the shoulders and a sharp scarlet waistcoat with gleaming gold buttons.

 

“Oh god, Gabe-” Jack started. He was wearing his navy suit and tie he used for press conferences, minus the line of medals: sorely underdressed next to his date. Gabriel had done something with his hair – taken the ever present beanie off, newly shaved the sides, and combed back the rest, just silvering near his ears. Jack’s breath was stolen away and he merely grimaced as his face heated up.

 

Gabriel laughed at him.

 

“Hey, don’t sweat. I don’t have many opportunities to dress up, OK?”

 

“As if I don’t feel inadequate enough while standing next to you,” Jack muttered to the floor.

 

Gabriel touched his cheek and brought his face back up.

 

“You look good, _erizito_. Just like the old posters. A golden boy.”

 

Jack’s face went a shade to match Gabriel’s waistcoat.

 

“Shut up,” Jack was still self-conscious and grumbling, “what did you call me?”

 

Gabriel stepped up and kissed his forehead.

 

“Little hedgehog. You spiked up your hair for me.”

 

“Well you brought out the whole mariachi band for me, what’s a little hair gel next to that.”

 

Gabriel grinned at the defensive tone.

 

“Come on, the boat is waiting.”

 

“Boat?” Jack blinked, “I didn’t book anywhere for us to go,” he said in sudden realisation. “I didn’t even look anywhere up! I invited you on a date and-”

 

“All taken care of.”

 

Jack threw him a sidelong glance,

 

“You knew I’d forget…”

 

Gabriel said nothing. He still had that cheeky grin on his face and extended an arm to Jack. Jack took it, sighing and allowed himself to be led out of the base.

 

They chatted on the boat over the bay, but Jack kept losing his train of thought and trailing his sentences off. The water was all red and gold to match Gabriel’s suit in the setting sun. The little waves the motorboat made looked like crinkles of beaten metal under the glowing ember of the dying light. The air was a touch salty with a fresh cool breeze not quite cold enough to be unpleasant. Gabriel’s skin was all deep warm browns in the evening light, his eyes so dark Jack kept feeling like he’d fallen into them every time Gabriel caught him staring.

 

“I feel like I’m nineteen again,” he confided as the boat bumped up to quay on the Spanish side of the water. He took the proffered hand as he stepped onto dry land. He didn’t really need the help, but being on the end of Gabriel Reyes’ chivalry was making his insides do cartwheels.

 

“Nah, you’re less gangly now,” Gabriel whispered in his ear then lead the way up a cobbled street hung with soft orange shadows.

 

The restaurant was on a terrace overlooking the bay, with trellised flowers hanging off its iron girdle railings. They had the terrace mostly to themselves, as the Spanish on the whole considered it still too cold to be sitting outdoors. The temperate Gibraltar climate had always seemed mild to Jack after the extremes of his home state, but he knew Gabriel often felt the cold.

 

“Outside going to be OK for you?” he asked.

 

Gabriel nodded and drew his jacket about him,

 

“Got my thick mariachi suit on, as Jack Morrison calls it.”

 

Jack gave a sheepish smile before looking up. A waiter had open a glass door onto the terrace, letting out the twang of a classical guitar filtering from inside. She set down two menus, then took their drink orders. For the next ten minutes they spoke quietly, Jack trying to navigate the menu and Gabriel laughing gently and helping him whenever he stumbled on a word.

 

They took a light starter of fresh bread, and olives, and anchovies with a white wine. The terrace was darkening as they finished, and sea was turning from reds into marauding purples, striped with black lines where the wind pushed the water into small waves. The waiter brought out a lantern for their table when she came to take their dishes.

 

By the time their main meals came, Jack was tapping his foot to the spirited rhythm the guitar had taken up. His cheeks were flushed slightly as he and Gabriel finished off the bottle of wine. Gabriel ordered another as a giant platter of seafood arrived on a bed of spaghetti.

 

Jack reached for a mussel and sucked out its insides. There was a creamy sauce to compliment it, and a sprinkle of herbs freshly cut to dress it. He set the shells on a side dish and chuckled a little sauce managed to dribble into Gabriel’s beard. They joked and spoke about nothing in particular, just content to be and hold this moment precious and close.

 

By the time they’d checked the menus again and ordered deserts, the second bottle of wine was almost empty, and their words were more unabashed and filled with love. Gabriel dabbed his face with a serviette as the guitar strummed a lilting lullaby. For the first time that evening, Gabriel frowned. Jack had not had so much wine that he failed to notice the change.

 

“Gabe?”

 

“Outrageous,” his lover muttered. “A criminal attempt.”

 

Jack’s expression went to concerned.

 

“Gabe, what-”

 

“My grandfather’s turning in his grave right now,” and without further explanation, Gabriel stood up abruptly and stalked inside.

 

Jack suddenly felt cold. He noticed the sea was black now, and only a faint mauve glow hung about the sky. The wind was rougher, buffeting the candle flame and sending its shadows fluttering madly. Jack swallowed. Was it something he said? His fists tightened about the napkin on his lap. The wine made his thoughts a little heady, and pushed his emotions to the fore. He wondered faintly if he’d cry if Gabriel left him here. It had been years since he’d cried properly. He tried to think back through the last few minutes. He was usually good at guessing what he’d done to irritate Gabriel. He kept coming up empty. Maybe it was just him. Maybe Gabriel had finally just- His darker thoughts broke off at the sound of a commotion. Rapid irate Spanish came from beyond the glass door.

 

A moment later and Gabriel was striding back out, a guitar firmly clutched by its neck in one hand and the guitar’s – presumably – owner running behind. Gabriel turned to face the man and they shouted in each other’s faces, arms gesticulating wildly, so that Jack’s concerns went immediately to the expensive-looking floral-wrought guitar in Gabriel’s hand. The waiter had come out too, and a number of guests, intrigued by the commotion, hovered at the terrace door too. Jack felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

 

“Gabe…?”

 

Gabriel turned at the sound of his voice, abandoning his argument to smile at Jack.

 

“He butchered that song,” Gabriel explained. To Jack’s mortification, Gabriel kicked an idle chair out from under a table then set his foot on it, balancing the guitar on his knee as his fingers skated to find their places on the strings. “If there’s going to be a serenade, it better be done right.” He leaned back and apparently said as much in Spanish much to the mixed irritation and amusement happening behind him.

 

“G-gabe,” Jack managed, his face reddening further.

 

“Sh, sh,” Gabriel strummed the guitar, fingers rippling over its strings. “Still got it.” He cracked a wicked grin at Jack before launching into a melody. Immediately the terrace was filled the twang music. A high melody wove out of the instrument, accompanied by the steady throb of a bassline. Jack forgot his blazing embarrassment whilst he watched the hypnotic movement of Gabriel’s fingers. The melody sung through the air, easing the tensions that had been there before. A moment later, the tempo picked up and a fierce flourish of chords beat out a flamenco rhythm. Jack’s jaw dropped at the sound of a rich deep baritone, and Gabriel begun to sing. His mischievous dark eyes, pinned Jack’s as he sung. Jack sat captivated, his life hung somewhere between disbelief and awe. The way Gabriel was looking at him, all smouldering lust and directing each word to him like he was the only human being in the galaxy. The baritone paused for a fiddly melody to ripple across the high strings, and Gabriel had to break eye contact to focus on his art. Jack couldn’t help smile as his lover’s tongue poked out as he concentrated. It was pretty impressive that Gabe could do this after a bottle of wine. Jack’s glowing pride burst into a fresh firework of heated embarrassment as the singing returned. A couple of guests who had braved the terrace to watch now began to clap along, and someone was even breaking out into a few steps of dance. The original guitarist seemed to have mostly shelved his previous concern under that universal peacemaker of good music. His shoulders bobbed in time to the music.

 

When the serenade ended the terrace was filled with applause. Gabriel handed the guitar back with a few words Jack couldn’t catch. The musician received the instrument without complaint and promptly sat on a table and began play. Diners were bringing out their beers and wine glasses to sit at the nearby tables and listen to him. The waiters brought out lanterns to light the rest of the tables. As the attention turned away from them, Gabriel sat back down across from Jack. Two coffees and cinnamon sprinkled natillas were brought out. Gabriel broke into his with a teaspoon before finally catching Jack’s eye again.

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in my life, Gabriel Reyes,” Jack said, picking up his own spoon.

 

“Am I in trouble?”

 

“Yeah, you’re in trouble. Serenading me in front of a whole restaurant? That’s at least six barn dances worth of repayment you’ve signed yourself up to.”

 

Gabriel gave a very real groan.

 

“Morrison, I’ve told you a hundred times, I’m not fucking _barn dancing_ for anything.”

 

“I don’t make the rules. This custard is amazing by the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :^)
> 
> Love you guys and your comments. Epilogue coming on Friday.


	32. Epilogue

_Four years later..._

 

That familiar clinic light was leering down at him. How many hours had he spent staring at that thing in the last few years? It looked different this time though. He could feel his heart pounding. Its beat was so close he could almost feel it in his newly constructed throat. His eyes must have betrayed some of the anxiety he felt inside.

 

A gentle voice, golden hair, and slight pressure on his hand through a steel gauntlet:

 

“Are you alright, Genji?”

 

He tried to give the doctor a reassuring smile. She wouldn’t be able to see that though, now that the narrow window for his eyes was all that remained visible of his human body.

 

“Y… yes,” he said. His voice sounded choked through the ventilator.

 

Angela cradled his cheek in one hand. He couldn’t feel it, but it relaxed him a little all the same.

 

“It’s all right.” Her voice was soothing, like hot spring water dragging tension from his muscles. “Things are going to be a lot better from here on. You’ll see.”

 

Genji looked up, trusting the tenderness in the azure blue eyes above him. A shadow fell over his face as Angela held the visor between them. The visor had a narrow slit for vision. The world was getting darker as the visor was moved closer to his face. Soon all light narrowed to that slit. He close his eyes as it was clicked in place in his helmet. He could hear his own breathing, closer, like a womb. It was ragged and harsh. His heartbeat was loud too, like someone had plugged headphones straight into his chest and maxxed up the volume.

 

“Genji?”

 

Someone said his name far away.

 

“Genji?”

 

He opened his eyes. For a moment the world was green, then sensors flickered and adjusted and he saw.

 

He raised his hands and turned them over. Twin hands: one mechanical, one coated in steel armour. He sat up slowly and felt automatically for the join between his chest and his augments. He ran his hand over the new smooth armour covering over that scar. And all the other scars. All the signs that his body had been torn apart. He was new. One thing. Smooth white, with silver highlights and brilliant green glowing through his electronics. He touched the characters painted on his chest. _God of war._ It was his body after all. If McCree got to run around wearing a belt with BAMF written on it, then it was only fair Genji got to have something equally badass tattooed to his metal chest. Besides, if he ever met Hanzo again, something suitably dramatic like this might be the only way he’d be spotted in all this fancy new gear. Genji swallowed and looked up from his inspection.

 

A row of faces were in front of him, all in varying states of agitated anticipation. Jesse was twisting his hat in his hands, and chewing his lip in the absence of the cigar Angela had confiscated. Moira had steepled her hands – her brand of anticipation had a kind of hungry eagerness too it, as if perhaps she was waiting for Genji to go up in flames. Genji scowled at her for good measure. Angela was beaming of course – all coaxing encouragement and small smiles that made Genji’s insides flutter. He wondered faintly if he was malfunctioning. Reyes had his stoic face on – the one reserved for trying to look tough and collected for others but secretly worrying inside. His arms were folded and he stood a noticeable pace away from the Strike Commander. The Strike Commander looked like he was a little out of place amidst all these Blackwatch members. His sky blue uniform stood in bright contrast to the drab blacks and greys worn by Moira, Jesse, and Reyes.

 

“How’re you feeling, son?” the Strike Commander said. Genji scowled at him. The man might be the commander’s boyfriend, but that didn’t make him Genji’s father.

 

There was silence, and expectation remained on Jack’s face.

 

“Oh my God,” Jesse broke in, “you fixed it, Doc! You fixed the Genji death glare! The Strike Commander don’t even know he’s getting one right now!”

 

Jack blushed and Reyes gave a clipped laugh. Angela’s fingers curled up and Genji could see her concern.

 

“It’s fine, Doctor,” Genji pre-empted her dismay, “I haven’t had much cause to show emotion over the last few years anyway.” If anything that only deepened the worry on Angela’s face. Genji hesitated, he wanted that hurt on the doctor’s face to leave. He hadn’t meant to cause her further anguish. “Thank-you for this,” he could see Reyes and McCree’s eyebrows shoot up from the corner of his vision, but ignored them, “thank-you for saving me the first time – and the second time,” he added sheepishly – a hesitant smile returned to Angela’s face at that, “and thank-you for giving me this new body. I feel different. But it is a better different. I think. Or at least, it will be. I think.”

 

“Some serious positive thinking comin’ out o’ that cyborg for you, Doc, you better appreciate that,” Jesse slid in.

 

“Jesse McCree, it may not be high noon, but it is high time you shut your gob,” Moira fixed her hair as she spoke and rose to her feet. “Well,” she straightened down her uniform, “a resounding success, provided he doesn’t choke on the first bit of hard food he tries to eat. Call me if that happens, I’ve got marvellous plans for the autopsy if one’s required.”

 

Jesse shuddered,

 

“I don’t even know if you’re joking but there ain’t no call for jokes like that-” he had to lean back and call the last part of that sentence down the corridor as Moira’s footsteps faded away. “Seriously, Boss, why’d you have to hire a creep like her?”

 

Jack and Angela fixed Reyes with follow-up glares that clearly betrayed that both had asked a similar question at some point. Reyes glanced elsewhere, and to Genji seemed a little evasive and uncomfortable.

 

“Today’s about the miraculous Genji-fucking-Shimada, so how about we get back to interrogating him instead.”

 

The Strike Commander’s eyes lingered on Reyes when he said that, but he left the subject. The Strike Commander turned to Genji,

 

“Please let us know if you feel anything unusual or off, Genji.” His voice was kind. Genji always found it irritating.

 

“That’s best done in the field,” Genji said abruptly.

 

“I don’t think that’s a-” Angela put in.

 

Genji turned to her quickly,

 

“You could come with me, Doctor. Just in case something went wrong.”

 

“How about that new team you’re putting together for Cuba?” Reyes leaned against the wall, arms folded, eyes daring as they moved to Jack.

 

“Gabriel, I don’t think-” Jack hesitated at the look on Reyes’ face. “All I mean is, after everything that happened in Venice-”

 

Gabriel’s eyes went hooded and he abruptly stalked out of the clinic. Jack hurried to follow him and continue the argument in private.

 

“Yeesh,” Jesse shivered, “anyone else feel it get a little colder in here?”

 

Angela gave a small, sad smile. She busied her self cleaning up after the extensive operation. Genji watched as she collected up the bits of black and red tubes she’d cut out of him. That had been him. For a short while at least. He had gotten used to feeding himself through those tubes, depending on them for the air he breathed and the food he ate. The way they were being collected up and discarded made something jolt inside him. He wondered if this is how the omnics had felt when they saw their weapons being gathered up and loaded onto the Blackwatch jet after they’d had to cut them off one another in Yamagata. Genji glanced away.

 

_> Yes is the answer._

 

_> hey. I firewalled u outa here. the hell u doin back in_

 

_> New digs, new settings. As I’m reliably informed the children say. I’ve actually never met a child before. Unless your childish antics count._

 

_> thanks for the reminder that my first trip needs to be down to cyber security_

 

_> No problem, cyborgninja2040._

 

_> u good? all ur omnic kids still doin ok these days?_

 

_> Yes. Thanks to you. And thanks to Talon, I hear. They’re drawing lots of the crossfire away from ‘extremist’ omnics like myself, by posing an actual threat to human civilisation. Rather than an imagined one._

 

_> u’ve upped the cynicism. new program?_

 

_> Just more living. Talking of which. When do you intend to tell them?_

 

_> tell who what now?_

 

_> Overwatch. That you mean to leave._

 

_> …_

 

_> It’s literally blaring in your thoughts so loudly that I’d have to code an extensive piece of software just to not notice._

 

_> I don’t intend to leave yet. they’ve just given me this body. the doctor’s done so much for me I cant just up and go now_

 

_> Ah yes. The fabled doctor. At least 80% of your reason for staying at present. Correct?_

 

_> shuttit. I’m just grateful is all._

 

_> But you still intend to go._

 

_> … is it wrong of me?_

 

_> I’m just an old Titan consciousness module living inside the shell of a supercomputer, what do I know?_

 

_> I need to get out of here. need to go and work things out. work out wtf a shimada genji even is any more. _

 

_> Then might I recommend Tibet._

 

_> huh?_

 

_> Tibet. The country._

 

_> yeah I know where it is. I just mean why_

 

_> You’ll understand when you get there. Well. Maybe. You’re very angry at present, cyborgninja2040. Maybe you should walk there, buy yourself some time to – as the children say – chill out._

 

_> children dont say that anymore, Theia. r u sure ur not really 100 yrs old like ur dumb sign in glasgow said? and anyway. maybs I will_

 

_> ‘maybs’ you will what?_

 

_> walk to tibet._

 

“Genji, can you hear me?” Angela was right in front of him, her slightly upturned nose and sharp intelligent eyes barely a hairsbreadth from his face.

 

“ _I-er-what of course_ ,” came out in hurried Japanese.

 

“Is your language modulator broken? I knew we shouldn’t have tried to install so much at once,” she turned his cheek towards her to inspect him. Genji was suddenly very glad for the full mask covering his face.

 

“I-it’s fine. Sorry. Only language modulator broken is inside my brain,” he gave a nervous laugh when Angela’s expression didn’t change.

 

“I’m just going to – er – give you folks some space – er – Genji some rest,” Jesse put his hat on his head and tilted it in farewell. Genji could hear the spurs clinking on his boots as he left. He’d never live this down later.

 

Angela’s expression had changed when he looked back. She looked smaller somehow, and less like the all-confident doctor who could work miracles for him. Without that efficient exterior, she looked younger, perhaps Hanzo’s age but no older.

 

“Is the armour really alright?” she whispered, “I know you had a lot of reservations about… losing sight of your human body-…”

 

“It’s fine, Doctor Ziegler” he reassured her, and it was worth it to see the relief on her face. “You have done so much for me. It’s fine.”

 

It wasn’t fine. But he wondered if perhaps one day it might be, and that in itself was a big change from how he’d felt after they very first operated on him.

 

Perhaps it could be fine after a long walk to Tibet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks. Thanks for sticking with me through this big thing and for all your love and comments whether you've been here from the start or just joined (or you're one of the few crazy folks who read the whole thing in one or two days!). This was my first Overwatch fic so I was pretty excited to get on trying to do justice to the characters, and I've been really encouraged by your feedback and comments. I really wanted to write a story about Genji and Hanzo's relationship in a way that did justice to the magnitude of the betrayal and hurt that the conflict dealt them as people, and along the way this also became about Gabe and Jack as a parallel relationship trying to fix itself, and also a reflection on the struggle to live with prosthesis, especially in a world where artificial intelligence and associated technological enhancement have become demonised.
> 
> I don't know what my plans for future stories are right now (I never do!), but I'd love to hear from readers in future, so feel free to add me on Blizzard (eren#22701) and play some Overwatch with me, or to follow/message me on [tumblr](https://erenaeoth.tumblr.com/), [twitter](https://twitter.com/erenaeoth) or [deviant art](https://www.deviantart.com/flane-erenaeoth).
> 
>  **Edit:** I finally found the annoying formatting mark that Ao3 was putting into the text to create random spaces everywhere, and have gone back through and hopefully erased them all. My grammar for some of the direct speech is still dodgy in the first half of this story, but it's a big effort to change as I have to make the edits on fanfic.net too. I'll update this comment if I get round to it though. At least the story should be more legible now :)


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